If rumors are to be believed, Persona 6 is going to be a significant departure from previous entries in the long-running franchise. Reportedly, the game is not only going to feature two playable protagonists, but it will also have a theme centered around the concept of yin-and-yang. Several insiders have even claimed that Persona 6 will have a semi-open world, a green color palette, and a less restrictive social link system. Considering that many of the creative leads behind the Persona franchise have moved on to other projects, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the next game in the series does end up being as different as these reports suggest.
Since fans have waited nearly a decade for a new mainline entry in the Persona series, many of them are expecting Persona 6 to be an outstanding game. That’s why if Atlus, the lead developer of the upcoming JRPG, wants to satisfy long-time fans of the franchise, it should strive to not only reinvent the Persona gameplay loop, but refine it, as well. One way the studio can do this is by adding new damage types to Persona 6, which can make the combat in the game stand out more compared to recent Atlus releases.
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The prevailing overworld combat system of Metaphor: ReFantazio may find itself repurposed in the long-awaited Persona sequel.
Atlus May Need to Add Some New Damage Types in Persona 6
Elemental Affinities Are a Staple of the JRPG Genre
Many of Atlus’ games and, frankly, many JRPGs in general, classify damage types by using elements. Each attack that a character can use in these games has its own elemental affinity. Both players and NPCs can strike down the elemental weaknesses of their opponents to gain the upper hand in battle, but they need to be careful at times, since they, too, can be taken advantage of by other enemies. These affinities are a lot like the types that are seen in the Pokemon games; fire-type Pokemon are weak to water, water-type Pokemon are weak to grass, and so on.
Every mainline game in the Persona franchise has featured elemental damage types, which usually change throughout each installment. Interestingly, though, the last two Atlus games, Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio, both have an identical list of damage types, despite being part of two entirely separate franchises. These titles feature ten different types of elemental attacks, including Slash, Pierce, Strike, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, Light, Darkness, and Almighty.
Persona 6 Should Distinguish Itself from P3R and Metaphor By Having Different Damage Types
If Persona 6 continues this practice of having the same exact attack categories as Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio, then the combat in the game may start to feel dull. One of the things that makes the combat in Atlus games so enjoyable is its emphasis on strategy. Players often have to be cautious about the moves they make during tough battles because they may not know which elemental affinity an enemy is weak (or resistant) against. If Atlus keeps reusing the same combat framework and elemental types in all of its future games, then the factor of surprise and uncertainty would be taken away. At that point, determining the weaknesses of enemies would also become far more predictable.
To prevent combat from becoming too repetitive, Atlus should shake things up for Persona 6 by adding some brand-new elemental affinities to the game and reviving old, unused damage types from previous Persona entries. The studio could bring back, say, the Gun, Nuke, and Psy affinities from Persona 5 in the Persona series’ next installment, or it could dig deeper into the franchise’s history for some other unique types. Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, for example, have some obscure elemental affinities, such as Earth, Water, and Havoc, that could be reused in Persona 6.
