P-persona 5 on PC? Is it really you?

 Is this a Persona 5 I see before me? Royal pointed toward my hand.

Starfield- Smarfield, who cares about that when the real standout of the Xbox/Bethesda conference was freakin' ATLUS! Of the turnbuckle and out of the shrouded abyss, ATLUS swept in when not a soul was expecting them to drop the absolute slam dunk knock-out punch to the conference that had us all shook, the announcement to end all announcements; Persona 5 Royal is finally coming to the rest of the world, Hallelujah! And not just Persona 5! But Persona 4: Golden (which Steam users already had but Xbox Users now get in on the goodness) and Persona 3 Portable! A game which Persona fans insist is another masterpiece in a franchise full of hitters. And you know what that means; everything which is coming to the Xbox will also be heading for the PC. Whether that means I get to play it on Steam or have to settle for the Windows Store (I really don't like the Window Store layout so I'm holding out for a Steam launch) I can finally play the game I fell for almost 9 years ago. God I hate exclusivity deals.

But let's just brush past the hanging question mark left over by the fact that the game still doesn't have a Steam release date technically; I seriously cannot even address that right now I need to just pretend that it does for my own sanity, and talk about what a move this is for Microsoft! For years now they've been promising they'll be right on the heels of Sony with their first party studio stuff and they've let us down year after year as things get pushed back or scaled down or just refuse to stand up to anything that Sony has cooking. And now it seems they've finally figured out the formula: Just temp over all the Japanese Studios, they'll bring the meat for your cookout! Seriously though, seeing the ATLUS logo at a Microsoft event was enough to stop my heart for a second as I tried to let myself down easily for how this wouldn't be the one thing that I've waited for almost a decade.

They couldn't have hit us stronger than with the Persona games. Okay, well maybe if it was an announcement bringing over all the Yakuza games to Xbox, but they've already got those games so this is the next best thing! The Persona games are a powerhouse for intimate character-driven stories that fly in the face of the loud yet distant high-fantasy role playing games of the Western world. They explore the sorts of relationships and conflicts that western story tellers would never do, either because they wouldn't know how to even approach such a topic or because they slather gaudy excess over the over-egged message until a flawless narrative motif garnish distorts into a full steak dinner service with a stand-by band for good measure. ATLUS are masters of their craft, simple as, and creating a slice-of-life series that dabbles into the supernatural on a regular basis but remains utterly and deeply grounded in addressing the human question is a signposted testament to that. (Seriously, Druckmann; this is how you do it.)

This is a clear and present message to Sony that Microsoft has full intention to encroach on their territory. I mean sure, they're doing that encroaching at a snail's pace and picking off from the biggest franchises first, but some year or other those warning shots are going to angle down and strike the heart of Playstation completely. And who knows, maybe such a prospect will be enough to shake Sony into realising that they need to expand their net of influence out from their own ecosystem and allow more PC ports. That's literally fantastical levels of logical leapfrogging, I know, but if I can't have dreams than I might as well just shrivel up and die. Literally every prediction I've ever made about Playstation had dived right off a cliff, but I can't be wrong again, can I?

Persona 4 is a game I am so excited is going to the Xbox simply because I want everyone to play it. A game that takes a dreamy nostalgic look at a summer full of adventure and personal growth on the cusp of adulthood that I never had. This game made me nostalgic for a life I never lived in a town on the otherside of the world from the one I grew up in! It focus' around a murder mystery but spares no effort in bringing the troubles of it's teenager cast into the forefront without losing focus on that narrative, and it wields it's supernatural elements with analogous deft to propel and compel the narrative to us, the players. Whenever I get paralyzed with self-doubt over my inability to write anything resembling quality, it's scripts like Persona 4's which rocket around my head festering those concerns into full grown neuroses. Thanks Persona 4, you give me depression!  

Persona 3 is a total mystery to me, in that I know little to nothing about what it's about or who it stars, except for the apparent fact that the main protagonist is apparently a sufferer of suicidal thoughts, which might make it even more relatable for me than even Persona 4 was. Taking such a heavy topic matter and turning it into a JRPG would just be a recipe for foot-in-mouth cringe with bargain-bin poetry sessions and eye-wateringly poor symbolism for most game developers out there (or if I wrote the thing) but I just know that ATLUS are more than equipped to blow me away with a touchy and exciting adventure with great characters and meaningful discourse. These guys don't disappoint in the toughest environments so I'm just as pumped for Persona 3 as I am for the more known elements.

Persona 5 is the big boy though. From the very first moment I saw the teaser reveal trailer for this game, completely without context, nearly 9 years ago, I was smitten. I said "I want to play that" and I have been hungry ever since. To try and quantify that sensibly for ya'll; an entire console generation has come and gone in that time, and only now is that game coming to the rest of us. Thank god it is too, because Sony's backwards compatibility department is so lax that blockbuster games like Metal Gear Solid 4 are completely unplayable past the original PS3 release. I mean sure, there was a remake of Persona 5 that technically did make it to the PS5, but that original is lost to the ether thanks to people trusting Sony to protect their back catalogue.

Needless to say I'm chuffed. Beyond chuffed, actually; I'm damn near ecstatic. Putting one's faith in any of the new games teased throughout the conference is a gamble in a losing game, but playing a great you missed from yesteryear is a guarantee. It feels so nice to be able to get excited over anything without there being some massive hanging caveat. From here all that really needs to be said is thus: Please bring Persona 5 to Steam, the Windows Store sucks like crazy, they hide the files of the game so you can't easily mod the thing, it's infuriating. Oh, and can we avoid all of this come Persona 6 by just releasing to everywhere? That'd be super nice, thanks. (There are so many Japanese RPG's heading my way. I'm going being eating good throughout 2023!)