It's easiest to analyze the typographical scemes of games based on the time period they were created in. The first Persona, released in 1996, features an occult, mystical, 'dark' typographic form. Compare this to its modern remake on the PSP, which features a streamlined, techno-inspired type, carrying on a design asthetic seen in later Persona titles (IE Persona 3 and 4, released in 2006 and 2008, respectively.) Over the course of ten years, we go from a highly decorate form that carries a personality all its own to a streamlined sans-serif font. Original games were fighting to prove themselves as 'different' amongst a sea of titles vying for attention. Now that games have given themselves a solid base, they're leaning towards legibility as opposed to creativity.
Now, although the new texts in many games are far more 'streamlined', the text is working just as hard. Doesn't a streamlined text give its own connotations? You can't just take away the garishness of old texts and leave a blank slate for yourself to look at. Compare this change to another medium, for example, advertising. Think of the change from pre-WWII ads to the helvetica-infused ads of today. It's like Sans-Serif is taking over the universe!
With the rapid consumption of any sort of information nowadays, legibility is considered far more important than display value. If you're flicking your eyes across a wall of games, you need to be able to read it instantaneously lest it be passed over. Unfortunate, but true.
To end; I like the new persona logo better, but I hate the little 'shin megami tensei' bit all shoved into the corner there. Looks like an ugly afterthought.
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