{"id":113573,"date":"2020-11-06T04:18:39","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T04:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamerant.com\/persona-5-joker-phantom-thieves-special-place\/"},"modified":"2020-11-06T04:18:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T04:18:39","slug":"persona-5s-joker-and-the-phantom-thieves-are-in-a-special-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/11\/06\/persona-5s-joker-and-the-phantom-thieves-are-in-a-special-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Persona 5’s Joker and the Phantom Thieves Are in a Special Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Persona 5<\/em><\/strong> and\u00a0Persona 5 Royal\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>mark the franchise’s departure from beloved cult hits to an international mega-franchise. The\u00a0titles have outsold every preceding installment of Atlus’ series, garnered critical acclaim, and made a splash well outside the series’ usual JRPG and dating-sim niche.<\/p>\n

Like any popular story-driven game, a large part of Persona 5<\/em><\/a>‘s success can be attributed to the strength of its characters. The Phantom Thieves are a stellar cast whose broad range of personalities practically guarantee that at least one character will resonate with gamers.\u00a0Even better, they form an appealing ensemble that is greater than the additive sum of its parts. Unique dynamics between each pair of characters\u2014Yusuke and Futaba’s mutual sniping, Morgana’s unrequited affection toward Ann,\u00a0the group’s collective deference towards Makoto\u2014force magnify existing personalities and make the group feel believable.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Final Fantasy 7’s Cloud Vs Persona 5’s Joker: Who Wins in a Fight?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And Joker, as befitting of the Wild Card holder, is wonderfully realized through an array of dialogue options that run the gamut from effortlessly smooth, to sarcastic and snarky, to endearing\u00a0and heartfelt. His inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate<\/em>‘s roster<\/a> caught many gamers off guard, but\u2014barring\u00a0a few inevitable\u00a0haters\u2014he has proven himself a crowd-pleasing addition who stands shoulder to shoulder\u00a0among dozens of\u00a0far older gaming greats. Just as Cloud Strife became the poster boy for Final Fantasy\u00a0<\/em>as a whole, Joker seems\u00a0destined to fulfill a similar role for Persona<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

This poses Atlus with an obvious, but difficult question: what’s next for the Phantom Thieves? If history is any indication, they will be relegated to cameo appearances in fighting games, Atlus spin-offs, and receive oblique references in future Persona<\/em> titles\u00a0that have traded them out for a fresh cast of characters. While\u00a0there is a strong argument to be made that\u00a0Atlus make a break with tradition<\/a>\u00a0and feature the cast as stars of future games,\u00a0Persona 5<\/em>‘s own narrative is, in part, a cautionary tale against\u00a0fame.<\/p>\n

Over the course of Persona 5<\/em>, the Thieves take on targets with ever-escalating profiles, becoming anonymous celebrities themselves in the process. Each character\u2014and Ryuji in particular\u2014is hit with the temptation to unmask and benefit from this burgeoning fame. The game makes a point of tracking their notoriety with a popularity poll in the corner of loading screens, consistently reminding the player of what a big deal they have become. Unsurprisingly, this fame proves to be fickle\u00a0late in the game, and one gets the sense that pursuing the approval of the masses, rather than enacting justice for its own sake, is a play doomed to failure.<\/p>\n

Given the temptation to capitalize on the Phantom Thieves’ popularity, Atlus could easily fail to heed its own message. The Persona<\/em>\u00a0series could become the\u00a0Persona 5\u00a0<\/em>series, which,\u00a0despite the title’s numerous virtues, would be a terrible shame.<\/p>\n

Like Final Fantasy<\/em>, the reoccurring challenge of a fresh start, and the need to reinvent itself with each new\u00a0installment,\u00a0is what drives the series’ innovation. Persona<\/em>‘s fandom has been steadily growing in the west with each new entry, particularly in the series’ Katsura Hashino era. If Atlus settled for making Persona 3<\/em> sequels, the Phantom Thieves would never arrive on the scene. But that does not mean Atlus should\u00a0follow their long-established playbook.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

The Phantom Thieves’ story has already received one direct follow-up in Japan, in the form of\u00a0Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers<\/em>. Western audiences have been clamoring for localization since it’s release\u2014and while there have been some encouraging signs, the wait for a port has no end in sight<\/a>. Scramble<\/em> is ultimately a spin-off though, featuring\u00a0only a few hallmarks of the beloved series. A Persona<\/em> game without the dating-sim and monster collecting elements will ultimately feel like something else, and while that isn’t an inherently bad thing, it will likely leave Phantom Thieves fans\u00a0longing for something meatier.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons the Phantom Thieves resonate so strongly with gamers is that the Persona 5<\/em>‘s themes of criminal rebellion perfectly aligned with the characters’ arcs. Anything that doesn’t allow the characters to continue growing, and further refine their identities will end up feeling hollow in comparison. But Atlus has gotten creative with interconnected franchises before<\/a>, and the Phantom Thieves present a unique storytelling opportunity, similar to what Square Enix is doing with Final Fantasy 16<\/em>\u00a0and Final Fantasy 7 Remake<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Persona 6<\/em>\u00a0should continue its tradition of referencing prior franchise installments. But rather than being lowkey about it, with inside jokes and blink-and-miss-it callbacks<\/a>, the Phantom Thieves’ actions could feature prominently in the world of Persona 6<\/em> as a major historical event. Or, better yet, the Phantom Thieves could be an ongoing force in the world of Persona.<\/em> And to flesh those adventures out,\u00a0Atlus could work on a separate Persona 5<\/em> franchise. Rather than a straight reprisal of Persona 5\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Royal<\/em>, this new series could act as a sort of testing ground to shake up the standard Persona<\/em> formula with new features.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Persona 5 Scramble Gets Registered US Trademark, English Localization Likely<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Having a separate\u00a0Persona\u00a0<\/em>series\u00a0to play with would allow the developers to try out experiments like Hashino’s original, road trip premise for Persona 5<\/em><\/a>. It could also risk fundamental changes to the way scheduling works, or renovate more staid aspects of the series’ social link system. At the same time, players who are franchise purists will be able to appreciate everything the series\u00a0<\/em>has historically offered in Persona 6<\/em>, featuring a fresh cast of characters.<\/p>\n

A direct\u00a0Persona 5\u00a0<\/em>sequel would mean that the core cast of characters would need to age up<\/a>. But\u00a0there is a precedent for direct sequels featuring the same cast of characters in the Persona<\/em> franchise. Persona 2: Innocent Sin<\/em> was followed by\u00a0Persona 2: Eternal Punishment<\/em>,\u00a0 in a two-part storyline similar to Stephen King’s IT<\/em>. While those two games are almost two halves of a whole, it would be refreshing to see each installment of the Persona 5<\/em>\u00a0sequel series stand\u00a0by itself.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of compelling story threads yet to delve into in the Persona 5<\/em> universe. It would be a delight to shape how Joker evolves in college and young adulthood<\/a>, or watch Yusuke make a name for himself as a world-class artist, and see Makoto pursue her dream of policework to honor her father’s legacy. Time will tell what fate Atlus decides for the Phantom Thieves, but their future seems promising indeed.<\/p>\n

Persona 5<\/em><\/strong> and Persona 5 Royal<\/em><\/strong> are available now for PlayStation 4.<\/p>\n

MORE: Persona 5: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Romanceable Characters<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n

\\\"IT\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2
\u7acb\u523b\u8a3b\u518a\u53ca\u5831\u540d\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2\u8ab2\u7a0b\u5427!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/br>Find A Teacher Form:\r\n<\/br>https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/1vREBnX5n262umf4wU5U2pyTwvk9O-JrAgblA-wH9GFQ\/viewform?edit_requested=true#responses\r\n<\/br><\/br>Email:\r\n<\/br>public1989two@gmail.com






\r\nwww.itsec.hk<\/a>
\r\nwww.itsec.vip<\/a>
\r\nwww.itseceu.uk<\/a>
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joker and his cohort of Phantom Thieves occupy a rare position in the Persona series that could alter the fate of the franchise as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Persona 5's Joker and the Phantom Thieves Are in a Special Place - ITTeacherITFreelance.hk","description":"Joker and his cohort of Phantom Thieves occupy a rare position in the Persona series that could alter the fate of the franchise as a whole."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113574,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113573\/revisions\/113574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}