Mid-level save points
Whilst I have always liked the traditional JRPG elements of the Persona games, Atlus tend to include a few archaic relics of the genre that drag the whole thing down. The big evil is save points, or the severe lack of them. The fact that there are absolutely no save points aside from at the beginning of a dungeon makes having to load from a save file when you die all the more painful. It won’t water the experience down having some save points halfway through a dungeon. Don’t be too stubborn with Persona 5 Atlus, just accept that some elements of the JRPG need to go.
More exploration
I know it's meant to be a small town, but did it have to be that small?
You’ve probably got the impression that I don’t have much love for Persona 3. This isn’t true at all, but I do think the fourth game improved on nearly all aspects of its predecessor. One thing that wasn’t improved on however was exploration. Persona 3 offered a fair few screens of town that you could explore, and the original Persona offered a massive city for players to roam freely (or at least the original version on PS1 did). By comparison Persona 4, in trying to stick to the small rural town vibe, gave very few town areas that players could properly sink their teeth into. Let’s hope Persona 5 feels a bit more sprawling in this sense.
A more fleshed out extended ending
Remind me who the hell this is meant to be?
Most Persona games tend to have better endings that extend and elaborate upon the narrative. Sometimes they are a bit obscure though. Persona 3 really signposted what you needed to do to get the true ending, but Persona 4 made it tricky. Solving the murder mystery to get the good ending was difficult enough, but then the true ending was even more seemingly random. I liked the way they attempted to put some closure on a very minor early plot point in the true ending, but it did feel very much like a “WTF who is this new bigger enemy?” sort of moment. If Persona 5 goes down the extended ending route, it needs to gel better with the rest of the story and be signposted well.
Greater cohesion between narrative and dungeons
No one likes a predictable game structure and, unfortunately for Persona fans, the series has always followed a very classical game pacing. You see some plot, prepare and then explore the dungeon until you beat the boss. Rinse, wash and repeat over and over again. Seeing a more varied structure with the narrative permeating dungeon exploration would really give the Persona series that extra edge for its fifth instalment.
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