I'd be surprised if this won't become the best selling game in the Persona franchise. The Persona 4: Golden game did remarkably well on the Vita. But Devil's Third will outsell it for sure. :p

Let's hope some Vita only Japanese gamers will be convinced to buy a PS4 for this.

The reason that not much in the way of gameplay or footage has been shown of the game is because Atlus doesn't want to show any spoilers. This might honestly give credence to the possibility of a simultaneous release or near simultaneous release in Japan and North America.

Also, it should be noted that Persona 3 and Persona 4 were literally revealed a mere four months before they were actually released in Japan.

Anyway, now that Arkham Knight seems to rest firmly around 90 and that MGS:V will possibly have development issues because Konami is awful, I am going to make a bold prediction that Persona 5 will be the highest rated game, by Metacritic, of 2015, should it come out this year in North America.

At the end of the day I realize that it's all opinion and I don't care, but I find it extremely hard to understand how anyone could put those 2 games side by side and say SMTxFE looks to be the better game.

I mean I have been very vocal about this before but I'll just say it again, aside from the decent battle system I hated virtually everything I've seen from SMTxFE, the way over the top "bubble-gum-atmosphere", the music (which to make matters worse looks to be a huge part of the game) and on top of all that, that huge focus on fanservice and anime tits that seems to be there.

Now again, I'm not saying that those things aren't there in Persona (aside from the music, Personas music is brilliant), but Personas fanservice hasn't been front and center since the first trailer and so I'm led to assume that there won't be a huge focus on it and while the Persona games have all had some of that "bubble-gum-atmosphere" as well with their highschool setting, they also didn't take it to the heights this one seems to be doing it, the keyword here is "moderation" which Persona has and SMTxFE seems to have completely thrown out of the window.

I think you definitely need to watch the entire Treehouse footage, then you'll see some of the darker elements in this game.

As for the music, that's a personal preference, I personally think it's awesome.

The E3 trailer of Genei Ibun Roku wasn't very good and didn't show off what the game will be like imo.

But you're probably not a Fire Emblem fan, so a lot of the cool stuff I noticed you'll have missed.

I wasn't interested in this game until I saw the Treehouse footage.

There's also virtually no chance that the writing in SMT x FE is as good as Persona's, simply based on the games that each of the teams have made. The art style is clearly superior in Persona 5. The music is clearly superior. The only slight advantage SMT x FE might have is that it might have a more complex battle system, but Persona's battle system is still addictive, even if it isn't particularly complex.

I mean, I understand if you want SMT x FE to be great, and it may very well be. But, just simply, there is absolutely zero chance in hell it will come close to the quality of Persona 5. 

For the record, the only Fire Emblem game I played was Awakening. It was a good game.

Btw, Persona 5s PV01 is still getting clicks, it's at almost 3 million clicks now (it was at 2.8 at the start of June), looks like the PV02 thing has led to people rewatching the first trailer or something, still crazy number for that series.

Do you know which developer created Syphon Filter? The Bubsy 3D guys...

Do you know which developer created the best Metroid games? Retro Studios, an unknown studio at the time that was organised/run like a disaster waiting to happen.

Fire Emblem: Awakening had the weakest story in the franchise.

As for the artstyle, I disagree, they're extremely similar, but I like Genei Ibun Roku more.

It's one of the prettiest Wii U games, no doubt about that.

As for which game will get the better reviews? Yeah, that will be Persona 5. I except some reviewers who will be angry that this isn't what they expected from a SMT x FE crossover game.

With regards to art style, I was speaking more in terms of character design than straight up graphics. I think in terms of graphics, SMT x FE might be slightly better (though, I think we're starting to see more of the PS4 footage of Persona 5, because the cell-shading is top-notch). In terms of character design, the characters are far more refreshing to look at in Persona 5. It's nice, for starters, that all the female characters in Persona 5 don't have absurdly proportioned busts and don't all wear ridiculously revealing outfits. 

With regards to story, sure, maybe the development team will go all out and make the story fantastic; however the general theme of a "J-Pop RPG" (as they describe it) seems to go against a possibility of a really strong story. The stories made by the Persona team, on the other hand, aren't just fantastic by JRPG standards or even by video game standards, they're fantastic by any standard with regards to writing, dialogue, and characterization. Even more so, if you play through the Persona games, it is very apparent how the Persona team manages to build on the quality of its predecessor. With Persona 5, they very clearly realized that the Shadow Selves from Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 4 were an excellent plot device that allowed a more in-depth analysis of the characters, which is why it is apparent that they are also in Persona 5 (Note how the protagonist and Ryuji have their eye color change to yellow when they are under stress or some external influence). 

Edit: The fact that the main female character in Persona 5 is also clearly white (her last name is Finnish, not Japanese) implies that racism will almost certainly be tackled upon in the game, much like it was in Persona 2.

Again, I'm not saying that SMT x FE will be a bad game, as I fully intend to purchase it. But there is just, again, an infinitesimally small chance that it will come close to Persona 5's quality.

What do you think it will sell? Am I crazy to think 2M?

I made a prediction about a month ago saying 2 million+, so either we are both crazy or you aren't.