Persona 4
Persona 4 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation 2, and chronologically the fifth installment in the "Persona" series, itself a part of the larger "Megami Tensei" franchise. The game was released in Japan in July 2008, North America in December 2008, and Europe in March 2009. "Persona 4" takes place in a fictional Japanese countryside and is indirectly related to earlier "Persona" games. The player-named protagonist is a high-school student who moved into the countryside from the city for a year. During his year-long stay, he becomes involved in investigating mysterious murders while harnessing the power of summoning Persona. The game features a weather forecast system with events happening on foggy days to replace the moon phase system implemented in the previous games.
Persona 5
"Persona 5" was developed by P-Studio, an internal development studio within Atlus led by game director and producer Katsura Hashino. Along with Hashino, returning staff from earlier "Persona" games included character designer Shigenori Soejima and composer Shoji Meguro. Preparatory work began during the development of "Persona 4", with full development beginning after the release of "Catherine" in 2011. The game's themes revolved around attaining freedom from the limitations of modern society, while its story was strongly inspired by picaresque fiction and the party's initial Personas were based around the theme of outlaws and rebels.