History YMMV / Persona

** With the [[Franchise/{{Shin Megami Tensei}} main series]], due to its popularity overshadowing it and everything else Atlus makes. There are those who actively dislike the spin-off, accusing it of watered-down gameplay and thematic compromise. Simultaneously, some fans are ''only'' fans of the spin-off and dislike the main series for its stagnant, recycled "order vs. chaos and both are jerks" plots, flatter characters that contrast heavily with the spin-off's heavily character-focused narratives, and its archaic difficulty and gameplay. There ''are'' those who enjoy both, but the two series are different enough from one another that there's less overlap than one would think.

** As noted above, there are hardcore those who love one but not the other, but the general majority of [[Videogame/{{ShinMegamiTensei}}Megami Tensei]] fans are also fans of ''Persona''[[note]]although due to Persona's mainstream popularity, the opposite isn't as common[[/note]], particularly more casual fans. Furthermore, most mainline fans got into the franchise through ''Persona'', and a number of entries like [[Videogame/{{DevilSurvivor}} the Devil Survivor duology]] and [[Videogame/{{ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse}} Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse]] draw elements from both Persona and mainline SMT.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: While modern ''Persona'' titles have drastically eclipsed the original games in popularity and recognition, many fans who've gone back to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation trilogy find the stories [[UnbuiltTrope surprisingly subversive]] in retrospect. Intended as a LighterAndSofter take on the bleak ''Megami Tensei'' plots at the time while still embracing its parent franchise, the series starting with ''Persona 3'' would be far goofier in tone and adopt DatingSim tropes to separate itself from ''Megami Tensei'' trappings outside of Persona designs and spells. By contrast, the protagonists in early games tend to fight demons in the real world, harsher violence and social collapse are more directly shown rather than implied, while Personas themselves often take a backseat to the main characters' survival.

* AwesomenessWithdrawal: While the games are very long and have a lot to do, there's always a feeling of sadness that comes over watching the credits. It's often known by fans are "post-Persona depression".

* FanMyopia: Anytime there is an unrestricted (bar language barrier) Japanese Atlus poll, the Western fans, especially the ''Persona'' fans, that got in the know will try to make it about themselves, which only got worse over time. Like it or not, Atlus' main demographic is still Japan and polls like this are simply market research to gauge product interest or discover product pain points, not necessarily to request a new game or missing features of a recent/upcoming release, even though a few games did come out as a result of polls (see ''VideoGame/SoulHackers2''). Even more embarrassingly, Atlus USA can also hold polls as well, which is where these fans' voices are more likely to be heard.

* FanNickname:
** Mara is called "Dick Chariot", it's self-explanatory.
** The protagonist of Persona 3 is commonly referred to as Door-kun.

* AcceptableTargets: Considering how the games want to focus on ThePowerOfFriendship, loners in general are a major target, especially as the series went on.

* BrokenBase: Since the NewbieBoom especially thanks to TheNewTwenties ports, there has been a clearer divide between players that play at their own pace and players that prefer to use guides (especially for max Social Link/Confidant runs in the modern games). The former is tired of [[ApathyKilledTheCat constant questions for guides including for very obvious solutions]] and considers use of any guide making playthroughs unfun. The latter argues that the games have plenty of GuideDangIt moments that reduce the fun factor especially for accessing the (usually-advertised) bonus content that certain players would rather not waste another 100 hours to reach and not every player has 100+ hours to dedicate to a single video game because of jobs, other matters to handle, etc. and thus would rather experience everything in a single playthrough or two (considering NewGamePlus-exclusive content).

** In TheNewTens, when both series achieved significant {{Newbie Boom}}s, fans of ''Persona'' have started to grow fond of ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' and vice versa, especially because both are some sort of RPG with a heavy focus on RelationshipValues. ''Persona'' series fans were particularly fond of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', given that it seems to take several hallmark elements from the ''Persona'' series such as the school setting, time management life sim elements, and TarotMotifs while seamlessly working them into ''Fire Emblem''[='=]s established aesthetic. It helps that both franchises are represented in the aforementioned ''Super Smash Bros.'' as of ''Ultimate''.

* SubbingVersusDubbing: Despite both East and West versions being good in language and voice acting aspects, the fandom is divided into those that like both, some that prefer the full original Japanese for what the games really are, some that prefer Japanese VA but localized text for convenience while preserving the original voice, some that prefer dub only, and some that prefer fan translations both for convenience and full context preservation. It does not help that the entire thing is a BrokenBase caused by either voice acting (Teddie from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' being a common contention), {{Bowdlerization}} that often results in DubInducedPlotHole or LostInTranslation (or petty censorship especially caused by social media outrage, which Atlus West are more than happy to obey), {{Woolseyism}} prone to the same results, and the games' demographic. The East (including the southern Asian regions, where the games are not as niche as in the West but not as big in popularity as in Japan) tend to not tolerate the Western changes to the games, while the West is again a BrokenBase because common players play dubbed for the most convenience points especially helped by stellar voice acting in most cases, while those that appreciate the original Japanese version either go the popular route of nabbing an undub/fan-translated ROM, modding the games themselves for the same result, or learning Japanese.

** Nyarlathotep is commonly stated to be the BigBad of the entire series by the fandom, even though in the grand scheme of things his actual level of impact is minimal at best. He served as the main antagonist of the ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duology, and after that he has not been seen since, in spite of [[EpilepticTrees constant theories about his return in future games]]. And while yes he is the embodiment of humanity's darkness and directly competes against [[BigGood Philemon]], he's not really that much different from any other ''Persona'' BigBad, being an AnthropomorphicPersonification of the negative aspects of humanity that intends harm on the world, with the only thing he has above them is [[spoiler:successfully [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt ending the world]] at the end of ''Innocent Sin'' (And even then, he just wins that battle, not the war)]]. Hell, in his debut back in ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 1}} Persona 1]]'', he was nothing more than ''a regular Persona'' used by the actual villain of the game, Takahisa Kandori, and the ''Persona 2'' doulogy just {{Retcon}}'d him as using Kandori during those events, which makes Nyarlatothep the GreaterScopeVillain of the first game. Still, Nyarlatothep hasn’t been seen since ''Eternal Punishment'', so while he’s technically the most reoccurring villain, his presumed status of being the BigBad of the entire series is dubious at best.

* BetterAsALetsPlay: The games, especially ''3'', ''4'', and ''5'' are very popular Let's Play games in the JRPG genre, due to being very long and very story driven. It would be very easy to say that a lot of fans of the games never actually played the games themselves and simply watched a Let's Play of it. The main reason people prefer to watch ''Persona'' games rather than play them is because of the "Life Sim" portion of them, whereas the player has to choose what daily activity the main character will do. People watch other people play it because they either don't have time to do it themselves, they outright dislike it as fluff to trudge through to get to the next dungeon, or they want to see how the choices/time management of the content creator play out.

* BetterAsALetsPlay: The games, especially 3, 4 and 5 are very popular Let's Play games in the JRPG genre, due to being very long and very story driven. It would be very easy to say that a lot fans of the games never actually played the games themselves and simply watched a Let's Play of it. The main reason people prefer to watch Persona games rather than play them is because of the "Life Sim" portion of them, whereas the player has to choose what daily activity the main character will do. People watch other people play it because they either don't have time to do it themselves, they outright dislike it as fluff to trudge through to get to the next dungeon, or they want to see how the choices/time management of the content creator play out.

* BetterAsALetsPlay: The games, especially 3, 4 and 5 are very popular Let's Play games in the JRPG genre, due to being very long and very story driven. It would be very easy to say that a lot fans of the games never actually played the games themselves and simply watched a Let's Play of it. The main reason people prefer to watch Persona games rather than play them is because of the "Life Sim" portion of them, whereas the player has to choose what daily activity the main character will do. People watch other people play it because they either don't have time to do it themselves, or they want to see how the choices/time management of the content creator play out.

* SelfImposedChallenge: One of the most common ones present in just about each game is the "[[ComMons Starter]] Persona run". The idea behind it is that you have to beat the game using only your starting Persona, meaning you can't switch to any other Persona. This generally involves using each games various methods of powering up Persona's outside of fusion to give them skills that remove their AchillesHeel, buff their stats to the limit, and give them end game skills, such as Skill Cards, Strengthening via the Velvet Room, or using some form of LoopholeAbuse to empower them by the end game. It is possible to do this depending on the game, but it tends to be restricted to NewGamePlus because of the limitations of some games making this run harder than others.

** In TheNewTens, when both series achieved significant {{Newbie Boom}}s, fans of ''Persona'' have started to grow fond of ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' and vice versa, especially because both are [=RPG=]s with a heavy focus on RelationshipValues. It helps that both franchises are represented in the aforementioned ''Super Smash Bros.'' as of ''Ultimate''.

** In TheNewTens, when both series achieved significant {{Newbie Boom}}s, fans of ''Persona'' have started to grow fond of ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' and vice versa, especially because both are [=RPG=]s with a heavy focus on RelationshipValues.

* GuideDangIt: [[GuideDangIt/{{Persona}} Has its own page.]]

* {{Fanon}}: People arguing that the canon love interest for ''every'' "Fool" bearing protagonist is whoever happens to be represented by the Lovers Arcana in their respective game.

* SequelDisplacement: How many people knew of ''Persona before'' the [[Videogame/{{Persona 3}} fourth]], [[Videogame/{{Persona 4}} fifth]], or [[Videogame/{{Persona 5}} sixth]] games? For that matter, it's rare to meet a Western ''Shin Megami Tensei'' fan that wasn't introduced to the series by those three games.
** This was taken even further when [[Videogame/{{Persona 5}} Persona 5]] achieved mainstream success. [[Videogame/{{Persona 3}} Persona 3]] and [[Videogame/{{Persona4}} Persona 4]] ''were'' popular [[EasternRPG JRPGs]], but [[EasternRPG JRPGs]] as a whole are a rather niche genre in the West.