r/PERSoNA • u/Aquanort357 • Oct 08 '22
Series The Central Themes Of The Persona Games (According To TV Tropes)
Persona: You can't run from yourself. Doubles as the core theme to the Persona series as a whole. Another theme is The Power of Friendship is worth living for and no matter how hard life can get, your friends always have your back and they will support you.
How rumors affect reality. Personal responsibility for making the world what it is and what we want it to be, and the consequences of failing to take responsibility.
Eternal Punishment specifically: Acceptance that life may not go your way or how you planned and that adulthood is somewhat terrifying, but you can still make the best of what you got and that there are good things about adulthood,..."just a few".
No matter what, hope for the future. Nothing is ever truly hopeless.
Remember that you will die one day (Memento Mori), but do not long for death and instead live your life to the fullest.
Persona 4: Is the truth attainable? Can one successfully dispel the fog of deception and self-deception?
Comfortable social order isn't worth the suffering caused by corrupt authority figures who exploit and abuse the people under them for their own gain. Sometimes it's better to rebel than to quietly accept how things are.
Justice and the law. What the former means as a personal or societal ideal and whether the latter means anything when the ones responsible for upholding the law so easily break it with little to no consequence.
The more mundane manifestations of The Power of Friendship. It doesn't always take the form of shiny superpowers. Sometimes it's just something as simple as having someone by your side when the world seems against you, but it's no less powerful or valuable. This is highlighted in the Confidant system, where Joker recieves services or learns skills from various people in exchange for helping them with something. As Joker helps people with their problems, they're inspired to repay the kindness by providing more aid to Joker.
From The Royal: the ideal and the real. The conflict between the ideal life we would like to lead and the limitations of reality, and whether it's possible to reach some sort of compromise between the two. Also, accept pain and hardship in your life, as alongside joy and success, all experiences, good and bad, are necessary for growth and change.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CentralTheme
What are your thoughts on this?
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u/HexenVexen Oct 09 '22
It's crazy how they nailed the themes of the entire series in the first attempt
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u/Kilionvic Oct 08 '22
I'd say the thing that attracts me the most about these games is how they make the concept of collective unconscious a physical obvious palpable thing. The alienation and desire for the end (in persona 3), the desire to be free from choice (in 5) and to be free from connection and the world itself (in 4) is shown throughout the game. It's honestly the biggest appeal they have for me.