Play the other SMT games like the mainline ones (Nocturne, IV and IV: Apocalypse, V), Digital Devil Saga, etc. They dive into that stuff way more than the Persona games.
I love SMT, one of my favorite series. Shadow Hearrs is also very good altho I am one of the weirdos who prefer Koudelka. I never played the PSX FFT tho. Just the handheld ones.
Xenogears was originally in consideration to be FF7, before they abandoned the idea due to the heavy themes and dark plot. Might be fun to play through and look for common themes. They cross pollinated each other in many ways.
3 more esotericism and philosophy-inspired recommendations that nobody mentioned would be Breath of Fire IV (Draconic symbolism, the concept of godhood, summoning), Chrono Cross (and Trigger) (a bunch of esoteric references here) and Suikoden, in particular Suikoden III, for this kinda thing.
I recently bought a PS3 on Ebay and was able to get Xenogears as well as a bunch of other PS1 JRPGs from the PS Store. Money well invested in my opinion, I’m about 30 hours into Xenogears and the story is unbelievable.
The underlying themes and influences of the Xeno games are very much in line with the Shin Megami Tensei series of games. I'm playing through SMT5 right now and the gnostic influences all over the damn place. Sophia herself is your guide in this game when it comes to fusion.
Trails basically becomes more and more Xeno with each entry. Not just in story but in gameplay too, it's clear the devs are big fans of Takahashi. However it doesn't get nearly as heavy-handed with the philosophy stuff for the most part, the games like to stay mostly grounded and then blow up to an insane level at their climaxes.
Play the other SMT games like the mainline ones (Nocturne, IV and IV: Apocalypse, V), Digital Devil Saga, etc. They dive into that stuff way more than the Persona games.
I love SMT, one of my favorite series. Shadow Hearrs is also very good altho I am one of the weirdos who prefer Koudelka. I never played the PSX FFT tho. Just the handheld ones.
SMT's more Nietzsche than Gnosticism, off the top of my head (though Xenosaga's stories being subtitled after Nietzsche's works doesn't help).
Xenogears was originally in consideration to be FF7, before they abandoned the idea due to the heavy themes and dark plot. Might be fun to play through and look for common themes. They cross pollinated each other in many ways.
Definitely nier automata. Although it's an action rpg. But man, the soundtrack is out if this world
Thanks for the suggestion. I have already played Nier Automata that said. Good game.
This is a truly ridiculous answer but like...
Lol, agreed.
Tales of Eternia kinda has it's version of this kind of thing deeper in the game
Haven’t played but maybe Nier automa
3 more esotericism and philosophy-inspired recommendations that nobody mentioned would be Breath of Fire IV (Draconic symbolism, the concept of godhood, summoning), Chrono Cross (and Trigger) (a bunch of esoteric references here) and Suikoden, in particular Suikoden III, for this kinda thing.
May I ask how you played Xenogears? I desperately want to play it but to my knowledge the only way is either ps1 or vita
I recently bought a PS3 on Ebay and was able to get Xenogears as well as a bunch of other PS1 JRPGs from the PS Store. Money well invested in my opinion, I’m about 30 hours into Xenogears and the story is unbelievable.
So, deep philosophical games, but not SMT or Xeno since you already played those.
The Persona series is heavily based on Jungian psychology.
Automata or Digital Devil Saga
White Knight Chronicles.
The underlying themes and influences of the Xeno games are very much in line with the Shin Megami Tensei series of games. I'm playing through SMT5 right now and the gnostic influences all over the damn place. Sophia herself is your guide in this game when it comes to fusion.
Metal Max Returns
Trails basically becomes more and more Xeno with each entry. Not just in story but in gameplay too, it's clear the devs are big fans of Takahashi. However it doesn't get nearly as heavy-handed with the philosophy stuff for the most part, the games like to stay mostly grounded and then blow up to an insane level at their climaxes.