I adore the Persona games. There's something about that balance of dungeon crawling and battles with social sim elements that make them so moreish – they're huge JRPGs, but their massive runtime never feels like a slog. One thing I've never really cared a great deal about, however, is the series' namesake, the Personas themselves, and I never expected to gain any newfound appreciation for them by playing Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance.
While mostly its own thing, Persona is, at its core, a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off series, with the main connection between the two being their Shadows and demons. These are the beings that you encounter as foes, but can be recruited as teammates. In SMT, they're called demons and fight by your side, while in Persona, they're fought as Shadows but used as Personas – manifestations of the psyche that can be summoned into battle. It's a tad confusing, but all you really need to know is that many of their designs are shared. Funny little guys like Jack Frost and his big buddy King Frost, as well as the likes of Leanan Sidhe and Narcissus, appear in both series, so if you've played an installment of one, you're definitely going to encounter some familiar faces when starting the other.
