my take on the whole "it's just persona again!?" sentiment is that hashino only left p-studio to be out of persona jail. ie being free from making games about teenagers in high school with themes of jungian psychology. i don't think it's surprising that he wants to create another jrpg with social sim elements. it's not like dds is all that wildly different from nocturne despite them being two different series. at least re:fantasy has its own character and enemy designs across the board. its battle system also looks plenty different, what with the 'press turn' costs attached to skills and the job system.

this would be like if the mario odyssey director formed his own subsidiary studio and then created a mario-esque 3d platformer under it. it's a ploy to dodge the mandated series branding. for that reason alone i'm expecting something more interesting than the recent megaten output.