Qbopper wrote:I always feel bad about this but I unironically am turned off of games like Persona because of the weeb aesthetic and fanbases
It could be the literal best game ever made but if a game has an anime-esque artstyle I'm probably not going to try it out without convincing
it's fucking stupid
How about something easier to get first? Try SMT nocturne, with an emulator, PS3, PS4, whatever you like. It's tough as nails, no animu aesthetics and you'll get the core fun of the franchise.
If you liked it, you can continue either with core Shin megami Tensei games (no animu aesthetics, but the latest ones are for NDS or 3DS, so shitty graphics) or, if you think you can endure it, Persona 3, 4 and 5.
The persona games after 2 are animeish, but on the other hand are awesome, better balanced, and the plot is always worth it.
from what I could tell:
-SMT: Nocturne- One of the hardest and bleakest in the franchise, no waifus nor kawaii shit in here, unless you take a shine to your first pixie, other than that, violence, betrayal, loneliness and kicking everyone in the balls, since everyone are assholes to you, you won't care.
SMT Strange journey: Violence, betrayal, assholish angels, assholish demons, you're alone and the world is going to die unless you decide to be neutral and do something about it, zero animu, zero kawaii, the only gal I remember was a complete bitch
SMT IV: Violence, assholish angels, assholish demons, assholish humans, good luck staying neutral and saving the day, starts nightmarishly hard, suddenly turns into trivially easy, only one woman to really mention, chances are you'll kill her.
SMT IV Apocalypse: Depending on what you choose either this is a shitty shonen "the power of friendship" show where you save everyone and actually more or less solve the series, or it's a super rad killfest where everyone dies by your hand, you get to keep your waifu if you wish to and everyone regrets crossing your path, also, assholes everywhere (get the pattern in core SMT?)
-Persona 1, 2 IS and 2 ET: they had a lot of influence from the oldie SMT, includes rad stuff like sunglasses Hitler or Nyarlathotep
-Persona 3: You could consider it the prototype of the persona system, people REALLY liked it when it was out, you gotta keep your suspension of disbelief a number of times, and IMO is the most animuish of the lot (secret student club, the all powerful council president who can perfectly outdo the director, the kids openly getting weaponry from the cops without anyone stopping them...) the AI made things harder than it should.
-Persona 4: Opinions and tastes aside, Persona 4, if only by side material, dethroned Persona 3 very fast, less animuish, more realistic (you're a kid, when a cop watches your buddy with two daggers you get sent immediately to the police station to get an earful, you gotta watch out to go out at night, no one takes you seriously, and your way of getting weaponry is by buying artistic stuff in the blacksmith's store) For the most part, most new people in the franchise started because of P3 or this one. the Golden Version is amazing, but the difficulty got toned down a lot, so it's actually the only game in the entire series I'd recommend to tackle at hard.
-Digital Devil saga 1&2: very hard, a bit more reliant in the plot, also it's an interesting duo because they step away from judeo-christian mythology and into Hindu mythos, it had some songs, but other than that, it's a story about gang violence, the end of the world and how shitty some people can be.
-Devil survivor Raidou Kuzunoha: Not my favourite, Focused on pre WW2 Japan, so it's an interesting setting, it's not turn based and you only control the MC.
Devil survivor 1: animuish survival pokeman deconstruction, starts tame, then everything goes to shit, had tons of routes and endings.
Devil survivor 2: animuish survival pokeman deconstruction 2: ELECTRIC BOGALOO. Starts dire and then everything bar none goes to nothingness, more animu, with fujobait, including a 15 YO brat who's the superboss of an ancient conspiracy who really, REALLY wants your pooper.
Core SMT is a good choice always, Persona 3, 4 and 5 should be given a chance, the spin offs should depend on your mood and how you like the other games, also, every single one of them is tough as nails, have multiple endings, and every so often you kill God.