Warning: This article contains major story spoilers for Persona 5 Royal and Catherine: Full Body by Atlus.
Over the past decade, Atlus has quickly become one of my favorite developers, to the point where several of their titles are some of my favorite games of all time.Persona 5was my 2017 Game of the Year,Catherine(the original) is my favorite puzzle game, andTokyo Mirage Sessions #FEis an incredible JRPG that didn’t get enough recognition, even withgetting a second life on Switch earlier this year. Despite my love for these games, I have noticed a trend with Atlus’s recent titles likeCatherine: Full BodyandPersona 5 Royal, which expand on each game’s original release; the new story additions feel out of place.
Catherine: Full Bodyintroduces a new love interest into the mix with Rin, adding five new story paths to the original’s eight. Playing through Rin’s true route, it seems natural to have the original romance options of Katherine and Catherine still being core parts of the overarching narrative (even with the narrative issues I think it brings). However, if you end up going down a path where you do not romance Rin, he is simply written off.Chief Producer Katsura Hashinosaid back in 2018 that “Catherine: Full Bodyis a complete version of the concept from the previous game, which can be delivered because the sense of values has been diversified since 7 years ago.” While this might be true, it doesn’t translate well from the originalCatherinetoCatherine: Full Bodyten years later.
Persona 5 Royalhas similar problems but to an even more significant degree. Outside of the great quality of life improvements thatPersona 5 Royalbrings, the game introduces two new characters into the story…kind of. Dr. Maruki and Kasumi are new Confidants that you may form relationships with, and while those do bring some great benefits in combat throughout the base story ofPersona 5, they are more or less there for character development until the new semester at the end of the game.
Simply put, I do not like the new semester inPersona 5 Royal. It doesn’t work for me for a myriad of reasons, but the main point is that the new ending is a much weaker conclusion to an already perfect one. In the originalPersona 5, after defeating Yaldabaoth everything goes back to normal and reality is restored. We say our goodbyes to Morgana (for a short time) and the Phantom Thieves go back to their regular lives. Everything is resolved and the game feels over until you wake up the next day, in a completely different reality, and have twenty more hours of the game to play. Why? Simply to focus on Dr. Maruki and Kasumi, the new characters who had very little significance in the original story. Akechi also returns after his assumed death, but there is no concrete evidence that he comes back permanently after fixing reality.
Granted, there are some unexpected character revelations throughout, but the stakes at hand feel smaller this time around. Also, Dr. Maruki did not make for a compelling villain. The cognitive reality he created was flawed at the base level because the Phantom Thieves still existed, despite the motivations that led its members to join never happening. He presents the same ideas to you numerous times, and each time he is surprised by your reaction as if he’s heard it for the first time. In short, these are all just unnecessary additions to an already masterful game. There are just too many issues to justify the new characters and story points thatRoyalintroduces. If it weren’t for the quality of life improvements that were brought to the game, I would recommend newcomers to playPersona 5overPersona 5 Royal.
The thing that fascinates me about this trend is that Atlus has found a better way of bringing new elements for the narrative in their re-releases before. InPersona 4 Golden, the updated version ofPersona 4added new characters and story elements, but it didn’t feel as jarring due to the true ending ofPersona 4being a different conclusion inGolden. InGolden, the true ending just adds an epilogue following the original’s conclusion.Persona 3 FESis a similar situation toPersona 3, having an epilogue following the main story known asThe Answer.To me these are better ways of implementing new story points because mainly they don’t affect the vision of the original versions, and it doesn’t make them feel shoe-horned in.
Some could argue that the third semester inRoyalis an epilogue in itself, but it feels more like a fourth act after the curtains have obviously closed. Every Atlus game I’ve played feels precise on the way it is built and executed, so when bringing new things into the fray, it feels polarizing. I don’t know why Atlus decided to stray away from its original format in applying story elements for the definitive versions of their games, and honestly, I thinkPersona 4 GoldenandPersona 3 FESare great examples to look at. But if they continue going down the path they’re on, I would rather have them add nothing narrative-wise whatsoever to these updated releases.
To highlight another recent example,Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FEoriginally released on the Wii U and while very few played it at the time, I was ecstatic when it was announced to be getting a Switch port. My first thought at the time was “I hope Atlus adds new parts to the story,” and was saddened to hear that would not be the case. Even so, once I finishedTokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encoreearlier this year, I realized that it didn’t need it. There were new features and additions like costumes and party members to participate in Sessions, but its story was perfect the way it was.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturneis getting a remaster next year in the west and it seems that it will be in a similar situation asTokyo Mirage Sessions, which is great to hear. After originally releasing on the PlayStation 2, it has been a long time (if not the first time) that many players will experience it, and I’m looking forward to not seeing any major narrative points being posthumously injected inside it.
Atlus doing these re-releases in general isn’t particularly bad, especially to give deserving games another chance to build success. But withPersona 5being the already incredible JRPG it is, to me it never felt necessary to do a re-release withPersona 5 Royal, especially with it being only three years after the original’s release.Catherine: Full Bodygets more of a pass because it was a decade since the release ofCatherine,so it felt more welcome. But even then,Full Bodystill has some issues when it pertains to the new narrative aspects.
It is fair to say that I don’t know if I would feel the same way if I never played the originalCatherineorPersona 5, but to me, these new story inclusions from Atlus’ updated releases stick out like a sore thumb. I thinkCatherine: Full BodyandPersona 5 Royalare spectacular games that deserve the love that they get. I will also never argue against a game becoming more accessible for a bigger audience to play it, which both titles do. But from a story standpoint, I feel like they were better in their original forms.
