I really loved Persona 5, but I hope the character writing in P6 is better. P5 feels like a downgrade from P3
I recently beat Persona 3 Reload and it was pretty good. One thing that stood out to me was that most of the characters’ arcs and stories are tied directly to the overall main story or narrative and develops over the course of the game, concluding near the end. This gives some depth and healthy pacing to the character writing and interactions between the cast as the main story plays out.
Junpei’s arc of being sort of aimless and insecure plays out throughout the entire game, adding in Chidori who serves as an anchor to support his confidence midway before the final portion of the game.
Yukari’s story with her father are tied directly to the events of the Shadows and Kirijo Corporation’s research on them, the driving cause for the cast to fight. Then there’s her poor relationship with Mitsuru over her family’s involvement in the deaths of the researchers, like her father. Her grief is processed over time before the final portion of the game.
Sanji, Akihiko and Ken’s story play out a little sooner, with maybe less depth, but they’re tied to the events transpiring with the Shadows in the world.
All this is to say, their stories aren’t contained in a single instance or sandbox the way the cast of Persona 5’s are. I liked Persona 5 a lot, but looking back on it—as much as I loved the cast—there wasn’t really much to them outside of their palaces. The palace design of Persona 5 made it so the characters’ stories developed and concluded with their palace, leaving nothing for the overall main story. Persona 3 completely avoids this by letting the characters’ story tie to the main events of the game.
I can’t think of anyone besides Morgana, Futaba, and maybe Haru who has an actual reason to be involved in the events of the game after their palace is done. Besides wanting to be a Phantom Thief, there’s nothing left. I know people really love the palaces in P5, but I can’t help but think they led to poor narrative decisions for the actual cast. Ann, Yusuke, Ryuji, and Makoto have nothing going for them after their palaces. They just sit around telling Joker he’s the best.
I hope the character writing in Persona 6 avoids this if they do something like character palaces again or they completely avoid palaces and instead allow characters’ stories be tied to the main story and the events that transpire like in P3 rather than anchoring them to their palace/dungeon, leaving nothing left for them to do for the remaining 70 hours.