Winter 2014 in this case probably doesn’t mean between January and March of next year, folks. If anything, Atlus is smart as hell for getting the team working on this to do so on the old hardware simply because they know it so well and can make this the best-looking Persona game to date if they choose to go all out on the visuals.

And speaking of visuals, that image from the Japanese website (currently the sole piece of art available) is pretty striking, isn’t it? That said, I’m not going to be stupid here and speculate what it means other than to say that given the previous games were about high-school age kids discovering they’re endowed with special powers and need to save the world before it ends in some insanely dramatic manner while also going through the motions of daily life, classwork and homework should still present a major story point throughout the game.

Eh, we’ll see what’s what over the next year – there’s plenty of time for Atlus to drop loads of updates before the game is ready to ship out…

Now, about those OTHER Persona games… read on for my take, if you dare…

 
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do KNOW that Japan does really (and I mean REALLY) quirky things with some of its popular game franchises and it’s more than clear that the three other titles are geared squarely towards the younger fans of the long running RPG franchise than us older, crankier set in our curmudgeonly ways players. So on one hand, good for Index/Atlus for keeping the flame alive for those who crave different Persona experiences across a few different platforms.

 
Me, I’ll sit two of these other three in development out, as I like the deadly seriousness of the series when it nails mood and atmosphere just right over fluff like a fighting game (although P4G was a TON of fun, it really wasn’t necessary in my opinion), and a dancing game (MY brain just goes “Yeeeeeugh!” at these cash-ins, but it WILL sell like hotcakes to the otaku and folks who think the gaming world needs MORE of these super-niche experiences).

 
On the other hand, as an Etrian Odyssey fan, I liked the art style in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth as soon as I saw it, so I’ll be checking that one out and hoping it’s as challenging as the EO games and then some. Of course, we don’t yet know which of these will make it overseas, but my money is on them all headed west at some point, as the fan base here seems of a nice enough size to support all four games. As usual, we shall see…