The Persona series has a unique formula of blending RPG and life sim gameplay, which is part of the reason why it’s become so popular. The romantic routes are also a very popular feature, as there’s always plenty of characters to choose from and each route is a unique story. However, there is definitely room for improvement with regards to Persona‘s romantic routes.
Now that there are rumors brewing of Persona 6‘s potential announcement, speculation has started on what the new game’s social links, and thus romance, will look like. Atlus does seem comfortable in the series’ established formula, but the gameplay risks taken with Persona 5 paid off. It’s not impossible that there could be improvements to the romantic routes in future games. The problem lies not in the gameplay necessarily, but the narrative.
There’s an obvious problem when it comes to Persona 5‘s romances specifically. There are not one, but four different adults that the 16-year-old protagonist can potentially date. One of them is his teacher, and another is a doctor who performs dangerous clinical experiments on him. It’s odd for Persona 5 to be so laissez-faire when it comes to the protagonist dating adults, when the very first Palace of the game revolves around another teacher sexually abusing students.
It’s a glaring contradiction in the game’s themes. Kamoshida is a horrible abuser, but Kawakami is fine because she’s a cute woman who dresses like a maid. Kawakami herself states that she shouldn’t pursue a student, but if the player insists enough, she gives in and decides to be Joker’s girlfriend as long as they keep it secret. The game wants to have its cake and eat it too, but it’s impossible to do that when the game deals with such heavy topics of abuse.
With regards to Tae Takemi, she seems downright gleeful in causing pain and taking advantage of her leverage in the clinical trials. Supposedly it’s just part of her sardonic personality, and she’s a good doctor deep down, but it’s hard to believe that when she’s okay with dating her underage “guinea pig.” Persona 5 ends up undermining the themes of both the Confidant storylines and the overall game with these romantic routes. Considering the Persona playerbase is largely adults, it makes sense that it would cater to adults in its romantic routes, but then why is it so stuck on having teenage protagonists?
Persona 5 tends to treat its protagonist as a pseudo-adult while still clinging to the high school setting. Joker can work in a bar in the red-light district, where he can pursue the drunk journalist Ohya, and generally make his way around Shibuya the way an adult would. It’s both unrealistic and uncomfortable at times.
This problem extends to previous games on a lesser scale: there are the Velvet Room attendants like Margaret and Theodore, and some suggestive scenes involving the nurse in Persona 4 and a teacher in Persona 3. None of the previous games go as far as Persona 5 does, however. If Atlus wants to continue playing around with ethics and more suggestive relationships, it’s time for them to at least age up the cast in Persona 6.
In Social Links and Confidant routes with female characters, in all Persona games, there comes a point where it seems like they all inevitably fall in love with the protagonist. Some players have even started romances accidentally, when they were just trying to rank up friendship with a girl. This is especially apparent in Persona 3, where the player simply has no choice but to date every single girl if they want to max their Social Links. In Persona 4 and 5, romantic routes can be avoided, but nearly every girl falls for the protagonist anyway. Hints of romance are always present, and the player can simply choose which girls win the protagonist’s affections.
Immediate romance removes autonomy from the female characters; they simply can’t go through their own personal arc without dating the protagonist or at least falling for him. It forces the player to keep certain girls at a distance, and cheapens their character development. This pattern speaks to a larger narrative issue in the series: the protagonist is always the most important person in the world, and his mere presence fixes the lives of everyone around him. While it makes sense from a strictly gameplay perspective, it’s definitely odd when taken at face value in the story.
If every girl has to be romanceable, then her story should at least still be fulfilling if the player chooses not to pursue her. There have been few exceptions like Naoto in Persona 4, where players need to meet certain choices to unlock their romance, but she ends up being a special case among other women in Persona. The way things are now, the protagonist just ends up leaving a lot of broken hearts.
Every romance route in the Persona series has been heterosexual. The only time boys have been romanceable is for the female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable. The one exception is Tatsuya in Persona 2: Innocent Sin, who can proclaim his feelings for Jun and then the two are seen as romantic partners. The Persona 2 games, however, don’t have the fully fleshed out romances of later games.
In general, Persona games have a shaky track record of handling LGBT issues. Persona 4 attempted to tackle these themes with Naoto and Kanji, but it ultimately backs out by pairing the two off in a heterosexual romance (provided the protagonist doesn’t pursue Naoto himself). Persona 5 included harmful stereotypes of gay men, but those were then altered in the Royal re-release.
Persona 4 almost included a romance route with Yosuke, but then at the last minute, it was removed. There is a mod for the Persona 4: Golden Steam release that adds the Yosuke romance back into the game, and also removes some of the homophobic scenes. Considering how close Yosuke becomes to the protagonist, even calling you his “partner,” it only feels natural that he should be a love interest. Sadly, the mod is the only way to experience this route now.
There are many things Persona 6 could improve upon in its romantic routes. Considering the popularity of the dating elements, it seems inevitable that the newest entry of the series will also include them. In order to really excel and make fans happy, however, there are plenty of tired tropes and patterns Atlus can leave behind. More freedom to choose partners, equal balance in relationships, and more autonomy for female characters are all great ways to make the romance in Persona 6 better than its predecessors.
Persona 5 is available now on PS3 and PS4, and Persona 6 is rumored to be in development.
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