What Persona Q Did Better Than Persona Q2

The Persona Q series is a fascinating sort of crossover. It unites the casts of Persona 3 and 4 (as well as Persona 5 in Q2) in a hybrid of the Persona series and the Etrian Odyssey. The second game improved on the first in many regards, most notably the following:

• Rebalancing the combat system to make magic skills more useful, and magic users more viable.
• Giving the party free HP and SP recovery upon leaving the labyrinth, making it easier to save money to buy gear and items.
• No longer requiring specific party members for sidequests(with a few exceptions), but instead giving a motivation bonus to the members involved.
• Letting the party do All-Out Attacks after downing all enemies, instead of having three or more party members enter Boost, which is a system that's easier to understand.
• Better-written characters who don't fall back on their most noticeable quirks as often.

That said, there are some things that Persona Q did better than the sequel, and I will list them here.

Strolls

At various points throughout the plot, starting from the second labyrinth, you may have the opportunity to take a stroll around the facsimile of Yasogami High School, and witness conversations between the other characters. Some of them are humorous, while others relate to the main story, and still others involve the route-specific subplot. In the P4 side, Kanji bonds with Ken and helps him rethink his desire for revenge, while in the P3 side, Yukari, with the help of Rise, tries to mend the rift between the older and younger members of S.E.E.S.

Persona Q2 doesn't completely do away with this, but replaces it with ambient dialogue when you're in the theater lobby, showing various interactions between the cast members. Most of the interesting conversations between party members occur before, during or after Special Screenings. The Special Screenings do a good job of pairing up characters who play off each other well- for example, Mitsuru and Makoto bond over their roles as student council president for their respective schools- but it might have been nice to see some more casual conversations between the party members, especially those who'd never interacted in the previous game.

Labyrinth Mechanics

While Persona Q2 included many quality-of-life improvements to dungeon navigation, there were some Persona Q mechanics I wish had returned.

• One-way shortcuts. While two-way shortcuts were generally ways to easily traverse the labyrinth after exploring more of it, one-way shortcuts were obstacles that had to be navigated, forcing you to plan your route carefully for some puzzles. They might have been used well with Junessic Land's timed electric gate switches, 
• Dead-end decisions. At some dead-ends, you could choose whether to rest, which might help you regain HP or SP, or simply lead to you getting ambushed. It's an interesting element of risk and reward.
• FOEs that interact with the environment: In the original Persona Q, many FOEs were affected by objects in the environment. For example, in the third labyrinth, the baby FOEs fell asleep if they heard music, and woke up if you stepped on a loose floorboard. This mechanic is somewhat present in Q2, but is significantly less common. The only FOEs that truly qualify are Kamoshidaman's Buster Girls (which start moving when the searchlights turn off), and the Theater District Phunbabas (which destroy debris).

The Final Act

Warning: Spoilers for both games in this section.

This point requires a bit of explanation, since there are multiple points to compare the two games, but it was the main thing that I felt was better in Persona Q.

In Persona Q, you meet a pair of strange individuals- Rei, a cheerful young girl, and Zen, a stoic young man- neither of whom remembers why they're stuck inside the school. They both hit it off quite well with each of the groups, even if they don't know why they're there, and the two of them become party members.

In Persona Q2, the first time you enter the theater, you meet Hikari, who's a withdrawn young girl; Nagi, the courteous theater manager; and Doe, an enigmatic yet intimidating projectionist. Hikari barely interacts with the party at first, although she does come out of her shell over time.

The fourth labyrinth, however, is where everything changes in both games. 

In Persona Q, at the end of each labyrinth, the party finds an odd treasure that hints at something relating to Rei's past, and Rei becomes increasingly scared of facing the truth. At the end of the fourth Labyrinth, the party faces Shadow Rei- known as Best Friend- and finally, the truth is revealed. Rei was a lonely sickly girl who died very young, while Zen is one half of the Deity of Death sent to take her away. Immediately upon that revelation, Rei is abducted and taken to the top of the clock tower, the final labyrinth.

In Persona Q2, the party enters films with disturbing messages and changes their endings to ones that have better morals, all while Hikari and Nagi are watching. Hikari willingly enters the fourth film, and is forced to face a series of traumatic experiences that made her the person she is today. After a battle against Doe, Hikari comes to terms with herself, and the final lock on the front door of the theater opens. It is then revealed that the theater the party was trapped in is only one out of countless theaters, and Nagi is the one behind it all.

So where does the story go from here?

In Persona Q, the mood darkens for the rest of the game. Ominous purple lighting and spiderwebs are added to the school, and the music for the school menu changes appropriately. Zen remains part of your party, but Rei no longer chimes in. The rest of the party is less enthusiastic and more wary when going through doors. The Strolls for the fifth labyrinth are far more serious, focusing on what it means to be alive, and on the impending end to the journey. The atmosphere of the fifth and final labyrinth, as well as the music, "Footsteps of Time," set the mood perfectly for the endgame.

In Persona Q2, while the mood changes, it isn't as noticeable. The lobby theme is different, but it's noticeably hopeful and determined, and morale isn't as affected by the recent developments. As a result, while the stakes are higher in the last part of Persona Q2, the player may not feel as personally invested in seeing the journey through to the end. As for Hikari, her character arc is mostly complete after the encounter with Doe, unlike Rei, who comes to terms with her life before passing on, and Zen, who is forced to atone for his past actions.

Ultimately, Persona Q has a darker final act and more bittersweet ending than Persona Q2, so it ultimately ends on a somewhat stronger note than its sequel.

English Voices

Unlike the other entries, this isn't a consequence of storytelling or game design decisions, but because Atlus was unwilling to record English voices for a game that 1)would require voice actors from Persona 3 through 5, as well as for its original characters and 2)might not sell well. It also doesn't help that the fourth labyrinth features several songs, which are generally more difficult to faithfully translate than spoken dialogue. Those are understandable reasons, but it's still disappointing, especially for dub fans. Perhaps fans of the original Japanese track aren't bothered, but it would have been ideal to at least be able to choose English or Japanese voices.

Conclusion

While Persona Q2 is a significant improvement on the first game in most regards, it is also important to recognize what its predecessor did well. It is unlikely that Persona Q3 will be made, since the gameplay requires the use of a touchscreen, but if it is, I hope it incorporates the best parts of Persona Q and Q2 while continuing to improve the writing and gameplay.