Persona 5 director talks combat systems, defends turn-based games

techradar.com:

Persona director Katsura Hashino has opened up about the creative process behind Persona 5 in a brand new interview. 

Speaking about his Persona 5 experiences in an interview with Denfamicogamer(opens in new tab), helpfully translated by the folks at Personacentral(opens in new tab), Hashino spoke at length about his thoughts on turn-based battles and character and story design. 

Persona 5 is a hit RPG from ATLUS, which follows the story of a Japanese high-schooler who, having been wrongly convicted of a crime, finds himself sent to live with a guardian in Tokyo while on probation. Here, he finds that he has the power to enter the psyches of villainous adults. Recruiting a band of misfits, our hero journeys into the hearts of do-badders, stealing their desires to do evil by literally beating up their demons in stylish turn-based battles. It’s a unique, high-concept adventure that offers a fulfilling coming-of-age story that doesn’t shy away from darker themes. 

Hashino’s thoughts on turn-based combat were exciting. Though conceding that “turn-based battles are an element that [can] break the continuous flow of a game”, the Persona 5 director uses a sports analogy to help illustrate the unique appeal of turn-based combat: “Sometimes, I like to convince myself by thinking of the difference between turn-based RPGs and action RPGs as the difference between soccer and baseball in sports.”

He continues: “while soccer is always continuous, you wouldn’t say that baseball is less immersive…Naturally, there are interruptions between plays in baseball compared to soccer, but if you have a firm grasp of the rules and the turn changes, you can feel the fun of “what kind of strategy is being planned” for both the offensive and defensive