I guess it's fitting that after my first (serious) review that I review a game I find on the opposite spectrum. In my MOTHER review I briefly touch that my interest with the game transcends its mediocre review score, and while granted, my rating for this game isn't much higher than that of how I rated MOTHER, it is a game I hold considerably more contempt for. Persona 5 is a game that while at its best is fun to think about certain aspects (namely the gameplay and aesthetic which I will talk about shortly), the writing of this game has disgusted me and left me uncomfortable at numerous points that it considerably sours the experience for me. There is some seriously messed up and problematic material in this game, but I figure I should start with the positives first.
It goes without saying that Persona 5 is a visual marvel. It oozes flair and confidence in its music and especially visual presentation that has left me awestruck on multiple occassions. The UI feels like a streamlined and futuristic graffiti, aptly representing how the Phantom Thieves rebel against their society. It's one of my favorite art styles for a game and I have tried to emulate it on my own time it's that good. But that is just the style, how is the substance?
Gameplay has this weirdly satisfying pacing to it. Whenever I get bored with dungeon crawling is just often when I near the finale of a palace (I usually do palaces in one day if possible), and when I'm wanting to get back to it the game usually starts heading towards its next arc. Persona fusion makes Joker feel like an invincible badass, which is funny because if he dies your game instantly ends. A bit of a side tangent but I never liked that in games, why have the party leader be the load bearer in jrpgs when revival items work on other party members. Sometimes Joker just keels over because of a few enemies targeting him and that just feels frustrating and unfair, especially with this game having quite a few instant death spells. Besides that however, gameplay is pretty simple but pretty enjoyable which is usually how I like my JRPGs. Blasting enemies with your favorite colors of magic and shooting them in the head with assorted firearms is satisfying due to all the vibrant and poping effects. That is only half of the gameplay, and sadly is what I think is the better side of the coin.
Now, that doesn't mean I think the social sim is without merit. Theres a lot of various activites, especially in royal, to take care of, with just enough days to get what you want done. Routing what you want to get done feels satisfying, and it feels nice to see your bonds grow closer with others. Ryuji, Yusuke, Sojiro and Yoshida are very charming characters that have great moments, and raising not only their confidants but of everyone else is satisfying due to their affects on gameplay. I just wish that the game didn't spend an eternity to unlock certain things to do in the city, from locations to other confidants. Considering each arc can take 10+ hours, it feels like I'm just waiting to unlock certain mechanics as I wade through the first few chapters of the game with limited options. If only my issues with the game ended there.
You may have noticed that I only listed male characters when talking about confidants I like, and that is not a mistake. Persona as a series, or at least starting from 3, has had issues depicting women and your relationship with them. Hell, one of the biggest memes I hear about the series is how the writer doesn't think men and women can exist in non sexual/romantic relationships. This has lead to issues throughout the latest 3 games, but as I have not played those, I would rather keep my discussion to 5. Now granted, I have not finished Persona 5. I played the original release up until the end of Futaba's palace and Royal up to the end of Kaneshiro's, which is earlier than in the vanilla game. As such, I will mainly only talk about what I have experienced while also somewhat mentioning other issues I have heard later on in the game.
To say the writing of persona 5 objectifies women is a complete understatement. They're half baked and uninteresting characters at best and completely disgusting in their portrayals at worse. Of the ones I've seen so far, Makoto is by far the least offensive, but she also doesn't do much besides be the general brains of the thieves. She's not who I have issues with however. Ann is a character I just feel bad for. A victim of sexual grooming in the first arc, the fact that she then goes on to be constantly hit on, sexualized, and otherwise just made into a general pin up model is appalling. While yes I understand that she still wants to become a model, it feels off when the game makes it a constant joke to point out her in universe hotness, from her cleavage revealing skintight thief costume to out of character moments such as Yusuke asking her to strip model for him. And to those who say that her wanting to be a model empowers herself and has her growing out of an abuse, why would you give this sort of arc to a 16 year old? Even then, shes more of a victim of this games writing, and she actively wants to not be sexualized outside of her modeling gig from what I've seen. The same cannot be said for Kawakami. After your local incel forces you to order a maid you get to see your teacher all dressed up to work for you wow! While she doesn't want to work for you and would wish you to forget about that encounter, the fact you can have her still be her maid and still press on in the relationship is borderline creepy. It gets worse with the fact you can eventually romance her like any other women in this game, especially after the first arc made it a point that teachers dating students is wrong. I guess if you don't outwardly abuse them it's fine I guess! Absolutely horrid.
Those are the main two I wanted to talk about, but they're not the only ones I have problems with. I think Mishima is a fucking tool, the jailkeep twins are annoying, and while Haru is an aesthetic gender apparently her arc has her dealing with her getting sold off and then having little to no screentime afterwards. They're all pretty minor gripes for characters sure, but I wasn't done yet. There's something evil left in this game. A being that haunts my brain stem and I only wish absolute suffering on. Anyone who has played this game talking about, so I'm just going to get to who it is.
Morgana is straight up my most hated characrer in gaming. This whiny shit bitches 24/7 and does nothing productive at all. He contributes to Ann's horrible treatment and has the gall to make everything about him. Never have I wanted to erase a character off my screen more than him, and from what I hear he gets even worse later in the game. He is just generally unlikable and I don't know how else to explain it. The biggest irony of his existance is that his VA has also voiced my favorite character in all of gaming (Nami from League of Legends), so that's like one positive I guess? Except not really because that ties him to League which is a massive L in itself, lmao.
Persona 5 is a game I want to really like. I want to take the gameplay and art syle and apply it to games that aren't pedophelic or hate women, but I can't. I'm still going to finish this game, but probably on PC so I can mod over it and have a more ironic enjoyment. While my experiences are often mixed to positive in the moment, it's one of those games where I sour on it more and more as I distance myself from it. Considering this is the first MegaTen I've ever played, it doesn't set a good precedent, yet I'm still morbidly curious to play other Persona and SMT games when I'm done. It's weird, but for as much as I hate this game, there's something weirdly charming like that. That I can just want it play it and other games in its series even with its humongous fault. I don't see my opinion on this game changing anytime soon, but hopefully the good parts of it shine more when I get my third fucking copy of this game (why) and beat it for real.
It goes without saying that Persona 5 is a visual marvel. It oozes flair and confidence in its music and especially visual presentation that has left me awestruck on multiple occassions. The UI feels like a streamlined and futuristic graffiti, aptly representing how the Phantom Thieves rebel against their society. It's one of my favorite art styles for a game and I have tried to emulate it on my own time it's that good. But that is just the style, how is the substance?
Gameplay has this weirdly satisfying pacing to it. Whenever I get bored with dungeon crawling is just often when I near the finale of a palace (I usually do palaces in one day if possible), and when I'm wanting to get back to it the game usually starts heading towards its next arc. Persona fusion makes Joker feel like an invincible badass, which is funny because if he dies your game instantly ends. A bit of a side tangent but I never liked that in games, why have the party leader be the load bearer in jrpgs when revival items work on other party members. Sometimes Joker just keels over because of a few enemies targeting him and that just feels frustrating and unfair, especially with this game having quite a few instant death spells. Besides that however, gameplay is pretty simple but pretty enjoyable which is usually how I like my JRPGs. Blasting enemies with your favorite colors of magic and shooting them in the head with assorted firearms is satisfying due to all the vibrant and poping effects. That is only half of the gameplay, and sadly is what I think is the better side of the coin.
Now, that doesn't mean I think the social sim is without merit. Theres a lot of various activites, especially in royal, to take care of, with just enough days to get what you want done. Routing what you want to get done feels satisfying, and it feels nice to see your bonds grow closer with others. Ryuji, Yusuke, Sojiro and Yoshida are very charming characters that have great moments, and raising not only their confidants but of everyone else is satisfying due to their affects on gameplay. I just wish that the game didn't spend an eternity to unlock certain things to do in the city, from locations to other confidants. Considering each arc can take 10+ hours, it feels like I'm just waiting to unlock certain mechanics as I wade through the first few chapters of the game with limited options. If only my issues with the game ended there.
You may have noticed that I only listed male characters when talking about confidants I like, and that is not a mistake. Persona as a series, or at least starting from 3, has had issues depicting women and your relationship with them. Hell, one of the biggest memes I hear about the series is how the writer doesn't think men and women can exist in non sexual/romantic relationships. This has lead to issues throughout the latest 3 games, but as I have not played those, I would rather keep my discussion to 5. Now granted, I have not finished Persona 5. I played the original release up until the end of Futaba's palace and Royal up to the end of Kaneshiro's, which is earlier than in the vanilla game. As such, I will mainly only talk about what I have experienced while also somewhat mentioning other issues I have heard later on in the game.
To say the writing of persona 5 objectifies women is a complete understatement. They're half baked and uninteresting characters at best and completely disgusting in their portrayals at worse. Of the ones I've seen so far, Makoto is by far the least offensive, but she also doesn't do much besides be the general brains of the thieves. She's not who I have issues with however. Ann is a character I just feel bad for. A victim of sexual grooming in the first arc, the fact that she then goes on to be constantly hit on, sexualized, and otherwise just made into a general pin up model is appalling. While yes I understand that she still wants to become a model, it feels off when the game makes it a constant joke to point out her in universe hotness, from her cleavage revealing skintight thief costume to out of character moments such as Yusuke asking her to strip model for him. And to those who say that her wanting to be a model empowers herself and has her growing out of an abuse, why would you give this sort of arc to a 16 year old? Even then, shes more of a victim of this games writing, and she actively wants to not be sexualized outside of her modeling gig from what I've seen. The same cannot be said for Kawakami. After your local incel forces you to order a maid you get to see your teacher all dressed up to work for you wow! While she doesn't want to work for you and would wish you to forget about that encounter, the fact you can have her still be her maid and still press on in the relationship is borderline creepy. It gets worse with the fact you can eventually romance her like any other women in this game, especially after the first arc made it a point that teachers dating students is wrong. I guess if you don't outwardly abuse them it's fine I guess! Absolutely horrid.
Those are the main two I wanted to talk about, but they're not the only ones I have problems with. I think Mishima is a fucking tool, the jailkeep twins are annoying, and while Haru is an aesthetic gender apparently her arc has her dealing with her getting sold off and then having little to no screentime afterwards. They're all pretty minor gripes for characters sure, but I wasn't done yet. There's something evil left in this game. A being that haunts my brain stem and I only wish absolute suffering on. Anyone who has played this game talking about, so I'm just going to get to who it is.
Morgana is straight up my most hated characrer in gaming. This whiny shit bitches 24/7 and does nothing productive at all. He contributes to Ann's horrible treatment and has the gall to make everything about him. Never have I wanted to erase a character off my screen more than him, and from what I hear he gets even worse later in the game. He is just generally unlikable and I don't know how else to explain it. The biggest irony of his existance is that his VA has also voiced my favorite character in all of gaming (Nami from League of Legends), so that's like one positive I guess? Except not really because that ties him to League which is a massive L in itself, lmao.
Persona 5 is a game I want to really like. I want to take the gameplay and art syle and apply it to games that aren't pedophelic or hate women, but I can't. I'm still going to finish this game, but probably on PC so I can mod over it and have a more ironic enjoyment. While my experiences are often mixed to positive in the moment, it's one of those games where I sour on it more and more as I distance myself from it. Considering this is the first MegaTen I've ever played, it doesn't set a good precedent, yet I'm still morbidly curious to play other Persona and SMT games when I'm done. It's weird, but for as much as I hate this game, there's something weirdly charming like that. That I can just want it play it and other games in its series even with its humongous fault. I don't see my opinion on this game changing anytime soon, but hopefully the good parts of it shine more when I get my third fucking copy of this game (why) and beat it for real.
There were some things in my video game canon that felt absolute. That were either set in stone by the truth of their existence, or by my stubbornness to consider an alternative.
"Final Fantasy IX is my favourite JRPG" was one of those absolute truths. I've played loads of JRPGS since I first played FFIX as a 10 year old. I've always compared them against the measuring stick of Terra and Gaia. But now? Now I have played Persona 5, and nothing will be the same for me again.
I think this is a near perfect video game. Just throwing that out there now. I think it's an all timer. It's my favourite JRPG, that's for sure. Is it my favourite game of all time? It is far too soon after finishing it to say, but it's certainly up there.
I could go into how compelling the world, characters, story, music, and systems are. But honestly, all I can say is that this game took over my mind in a way games rarely do these days. It filled the spaces of all my idle thoughts, it pressed on me and pressed on me until it left it's imprint, firm and forever. It took my heart, fully.
"Final Fantasy IX is my favourite JRPG" was one of those absolute truths. I've played loads of JRPGS since I first played FFIX as a 10 year old. I've always compared them against the measuring stick of Terra and Gaia. But now? Now I have played Persona 5, and nothing will be the same for me again.
I think this is a near perfect video game. Just throwing that out there now. I think it's an all timer. It's my favourite JRPG, that's for sure. Is it my favourite game of all time? It is far too soon after finishing it to say, but it's certainly up there.
I could go into how compelling the world, characters, story, music, and systems are. But honestly, all I can say is that this game took over my mind in a way games rarely do these days. It filled the spaces of all my idle thoughts, it pressed on me and pressed on me until it left it's imprint, firm and forever. It took my heart, fully.
This game reminds me of me because i live in my uncles attic and he beats the shit out of me every day mid
This review contains spoilers
This JRPG was refreshing compared to the ones I usually play. Instead of the Middle Ages/Fantasy aesthetics, this one takes place in our era, with a realistic setting in Japan. (monsters & magic powers aside)
The soundtrack followed the same trend, mainly going with jazz and rock/metal. Again, quite different from what I'm accustomed to, but it was a really welcomed change! I vibed so much to many of the songs, whether during combat or while I was walking around in the city.
The User Interface is so clean & smooth. Most of the time, I don't care enough about this kind of stuff to comment about it, but they did an amazing job with the UI in this game.
I wasn't too fond of the turn-based combat, but it didn't hurt my playthrough too much because I chose to play on the easiest difficulty to rush through every fight. And since I had the DLCs, I had a level 90 persona right from the start. So it made the fights even quicker. I also made use of the infiltration mechanics to avoid as many fights as possible. This way, I was able to focus my attention on the social aspect of the game and the story.
Speaking of which, this was the main reason I decided to play the game.
Living your student Life, hanging out with your group of friends, going to school and then dealing with criminals during the night. It was really appealing to me.
Leveling up your social skills and the relations with your confidants was so engaging. I was eager to replay the game in NG+ to experiment many of the events with a different character, and see how it plays out.
Makoto was the best girl in the game, I love the fact that she is smart & goody two-shoes. It was nice to date her and watch her become such an important member of the Phantom Thieves, and be more assertive.
I did the harem route when I replayed the game in NG+ out of curiosity, and it was hilarious to see all the backlash on the protagonist when he got caught.
Locking a big chunk of the game (the 3rd semester and the true ending) behind Maruki's confidant was kinda stupid. The game doesn't explicitly tell you that you need to level him to level 8 in order to get access to all that content.
Maruki was a great refreshing vilain. He had an interesting point of view with his ideology of Escapism, and I was really hesitant to fight him by the end of the game. I kinda hesitated to stay in his fake Reality, but I eventually decided to make the right choice!
Kasumi's story was really moving. I didn't see the plot twist coming at all, but it was clever. I wish this character had more screentime.
I was really sad at the end of the game. I had this moment where I felt completely empty, and this kind of feeling happens rarely to me, when I finish a game.
I got so attached to this group of friends. It was hard to watch the Phantom Thieves disband and go their separate way...
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played between early December 2022 & mid-January 2023]
Playtime: 120 hours
Main story complete. I got every confidant to max level and unlocked the true ending.
The soundtrack followed the same trend, mainly going with jazz and rock/metal. Again, quite different from what I'm accustomed to, but it was a really welcomed change! I vibed so much to many of the songs, whether during combat or while I was walking around in the city.
The User Interface is so clean & smooth. Most of the time, I don't care enough about this kind of stuff to comment about it, but they did an amazing job with the UI in this game.
I wasn't too fond of the turn-based combat, but it didn't hurt my playthrough too much because I chose to play on the easiest difficulty to rush through every fight. And since I had the DLCs, I had a level 90 persona right from the start. So it made the fights even quicker. I also made use of the infiltration mechanics to avoid as many fights as possible. This way, I was able to focus my attention on the social aspect of the game and the story.
Speaking of which, this was the main reason I decided to play the game.
Living your student Life, hanging out with your group of friends, going to school and then dealing with criminals during the night. It was really appealing to me.
Leveling up your social skills and the relations with your confidants was so engaging. I was eager to replay the game in NG+ to experiment many of the events with a different character, and see how it plays out.
Makoto was the best girl in the game, I love the fact that she is smart & goody two-shoes. It was nice to date her and watch her become such an important member of the Phantom Thieves, and be more assertive.
I did the harem route when I replayed the game in NG+ out of curiosity, and it was hilarious to see all the backlash on the protagonist when he got caught.
Locking a big chunk of the game (the 3rd semester and the true ending) behind Maruki's confidant was kinda stupid. The game doesn't explicitly tell you that you need to level him to level 8 in order to get access to all that content.
Maruki was a great refreshing vilain. He had an interesting point of view with his ideology of Escapism, and I was really hesitant to fight him by the end of the game. I kinda hesitated to stay in his fake Reality, but I eventually decided to make the right choice!
Kasumi's story was really moving. I didn't see the plot twist coming at all, but it was clever. I wish this character had more screentime.
I was really sad at the end of the game. I had this moment where I felt completely empty, and this kind of feeling happens rarely to me, when I finish a game.
I got so attached to this group of friends. It was hard to watch the Phantom Thieves disband and go their separate way...
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played between early December 2022 & mid-January 2023]
Playtime: 120 hours
Main story complete. I got every confidant to max level and unlocked the true ending.
i am not immune to akechi goro or kitagawa yusuke
can't tell if it's just the time between me playing p5 initially as a teenager and playing royal now or if there are that many changes to the experience (playing with the female protagonist mod probably helped a bit), but royal made me fall in love with persona 5 again.
the game still has its issues; ann and ryuji are treated terribly, morgana is still not nearly as compelling of a character as the game seems to think he is, the okumura arc is still not great, and haru/makoto are still without much substance, etc. etc. likewise however the game still hits a great stride with sae's palace onward, and the new third semester content makes that stride even better.
akechi was already the best character in base game and giving him more of a spotlight was one of the best choices atlus has ever made. maruki and the story and themes of the third semester in general are also some of the best work atlus has put out in a long time as pretty much anyone will tell you, but sadly yoshizawa does not hit that same mark at all. she's definitely at least somewhat compelling near the end of it all but i really don't think she was important enough to be like the biggest head on the boxart and i do think i would've preferred her as just a female protagonist option or something.
playing royal honestly made me stop feeling insane seeing people i know talk about how great persona 5 was after my impressions of vanilla made way for me not really caring all that much, and while it isn't the best persona game (it isn't even the best out of the modern trilogy lol) it's a really great time and i'm glad i wasted 100+ hours of my life again on this one. you really just have to take modern persona for what it is instead of what you want it to be and you'll end up enjoying yourself a lot, i think
can't tell if it's just the time between me playing p5 initially as a teenager and playing royal now or if there are that many changes to the experience (playing with the female protagonist mod probably helped a bit), but royal made me fall in love with persona 5 again.
the game still has its issues; ann and ryuji are treated terribly, morgana is still not nearly as compelling of a character as the game seems to think he is, the okumura arc is still not great, and haru/makoto are still without much substance, etc. etc. likewise however the game still hits a great stride with sae's palace onward, and the new third semester content makes that stride even better.
akechi was already the best character in base game and giving him more of a spotlight was one of the best choices atlus has ever made. maruki and the story and themes of the third semester in general are also some of the best work atlus has put out in a long time as pretty much anyone will tell you, but sadly yoshizawa does not hit that same mark at all. she's definitely at least somewhat compelling near the end of it all but i really don't think she was important enough to be like the biggest head on the boxart and i do think i would've preferred her as just a female protagonist option or something.
playing royal honestly made me stop feeling insane seeing people i know talk about how great persona 5 was after my impressions of vanilla made way for me not really caring all that much, and while it isn't the best persona game (it isn't even the best out of the modern trilogy lol) it's a really great time and i'm glad i wasted 100+ hours of my life again on this one. you really just have to take modern persona for what it is instead of what you want it to be and you'll end up enjoying yourself a lot, i think
Never played my PS4 until now much but this game made me realized having it was a blessing all along. Greatest game of all time. Peak fiction. Hallmark of Media.
- Persona brainrot copium
- Persona brainrot copium
Não existe nada parecido com Persona. Esse jogo exala personalidade. Tudo é muito único, estiloso e te prende a todo momento. É um dos melhores jogos do gênero, se não o melhor. Menção honrosa aos personagens incríveis e a trilha sonora fantástica.
Quite rightly the best rated game of 2020. Instead of a fantasy or SciFi world, there’s occult and psychoanalytic symbolism, ethical and philosophical dilemmas embedded in the context of socio-political problems of our time. As a bonus, Persona 5 fixed longtime problems of its successors: dungeons and combat system are more multifaceted, snappier and handier than ever before. The menus are stylish and set to a minimum which gives you a great sense of control and action.
Si no me ven backlogeando de nuevo, busquén a un tal "desgraciado verde", alias "yosé"
Enjoyment - 9/10
Difficulty - 3/10
MORE PERSONA 5!
Since I already played Persona 5, I decided to play on HARD which was a nice challenge. Even on HARD, it was still fairly manageable.
Fantastic game. Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal opened my eyes to a great series that I previously ignored. Must buy, must play!
🏆
Difficulty - 3/10
MORE PERSONA 5!
Since I already played Persona 5, I decided to play on HARD which was a nice challenge. Even on HARD, it was still fairly manageable.
Fantastic game. Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal opened my eyes to a great series that I previously ignored. Must buy, must play!
🏆
"I am thou, thou art I..."
Tudo que eu esperava e mais um pouco. P5R realmente supriu todas as minhas expectativas e como já esperado, entrou para a lista altamente seletiva de jogos da minha vida.
O game é completinho, tendo: Trilha sonora impecável e viciante, do tipo que você se pega cantando aleatoriamente. Personagens interessantes e carismáticos, risco dizer que é impossível não se apegar a eles. A história tem coerência e realmente te prende, eu achei que seria mais obvio a conclusão do trama principal mas acabei ficando de certa forma surpresa. Sem contar toda a arte do jogo que é absolutamente linda, sendo uma das mais incríveis que já vi, desde a cartoonização e tons vermelhos até o design dos personas. A gameplay é fluida e muito divertida, provavelmente uma das melhores em combates por turnos que já joguei, não consegui me cansar dela. Mecânicas de relacionamentos, exploração dos palaces, que inclusive são bastante diversificados, sendo muito gostosos de se fazer.
Resumindo: se você não jogou Persona 5 ainda, jogue! E venha fazer parte dessa família maravilhosa aka The Phantom Thieves.
Tudo que eu esperava e mais um pouco. P5R realmente supriu todas as minhas expectativas e como já esperado, entrou para a lista altamente seletiva de jogos da minha vida.
O game é completinho, tendo: Trilha sonora impecável e viciante, do tipo que você se pega cantando aleatoriamente. Personagens interessantes e carismáticos, risco dizer que é impossível não se apegar a eles. A história tem coerência e realmente te prende, eu achei que seria mais obvio a conclusão do trama principal mas acabei ficando de certa forma surpresa. Sem contar toda a arte do jogo que é absolutamente linda, sendo uma das mais incríveis que já vi, desde a cartoonização e tons vermelhos até o design dos personas. A gameplay é fluida e muito divertida, provavelmente uma das melhores em combates por turnos que já joguei, não consegui me cansar dela. Mecânicas de relacionamentos, exploração dos palaces, que inclusive são bastante diversificados, sendo muito gostosos de se fazer.
Resumindo: se você não jogou Persona 5 ainda, jogue! E venha fazer parte dessa família maravilhosa aka The Phantom Thieves.
This is probably my favorite game of all time, I'm definitely aware of it's flaws and I will definitely get into them but I'd like to begin with the positives, I absolutely love the characters like Ryuji, Akechi, Haru, Iwai, Sojiro and Maruki. They're all really likeable and well written but the cast does have some stinkers like Makoto being so bland and such an obvious waifubait and Ann just being used for fanservice despite the themes of the first palace but they definitely have some redeeming qualities. I would also like to praise the absolutely gorgeous art style and music. I love both of these aspects so much, the menus feel so fun to navigate because they're full of life and just look visually pleasing and the music is definitely one of the best I've heard in a game, my favorites being: Take Over, Throw Away your Mask, Layer Cake, Life will Change, Ark, The days when my mother was there and many more. Also, can I just say how amazing the newly added palace is? The story is definitely at it's peak here and if the rest of the game had the same writing this game would be much more appreciated in the hardcore side of the Megami Tensei fanbase. Now then...I think it's about time we get on to the negatives
The combat, it is actually decently challenging in the first palace and the difficulty falls off so hard to the point where even a chimpanzee could beat the game. The only real fights that provided a challenge after the first palace was the 5th palace's boss and the secret boss in the third semester. it's the secret boss that makes me wish this game tested your knowledge of the combat because it's really fun using the tools you have at your disposal and building your persona roster and party. If this game was harder and didn't give you so many game breaking confidant abilities so early I think it would be more appreciated as well. Another flaw is that the writing can get really...bad at times...I don't want to get into spoilers but I'll give some vague ones: cartoonishly goofy villains, serious topics immaturely being used to make the game feel more "mature", fanservice contradicting the first palace's themes, blatant homophobic and transphobic jokes, not giving certain characters enough screen time to really shine and the humour can be so unfunny like the scene where Ryuji gets relentlessly yelled at by the cast even though he literally saved them (did you know they were planning on also adding punching animations for them to most likely beat up Ryuji? At least they knew when to stop...)
Now, you might be asking? Why are you giving this game 5 stars when it has these really obvious flaws? It's because this game has left a massive impact on me and I wouldn't be the same person without it. I love this game to death and hopefully atlus can improve with persona 6 and make it even better than 5...I am definitely biased towards persona 5 royal and I will be the first person to admit that but I think everyone should try this game at least once.
The combat, it is actually decently challenging in the first palace and the difficulty falls off so hard to the point where even a chimpanzee could beat the game. The only real fights that provided a challenge after the first palace was the 5th palace's boss and the secret boss in the third semester. it's the secret boss that makes me wish this game tested your knowledge of the combat because it's really fun using the tools you have at your disposal and building your persona roster and party. If this game was harder and didn't give you so many game breaking confidant abilities so early I think it would be more appreciated as well. Another flaw is that the writing can get really...bad at times...I don't want to get into spoilers but I'll give some vague ones: cartoonishly goofy villains, serious topics immaturely being used to make the game feel more "mature", fanservice contradicting the first palace's themes, blatant homophobic and transphobic jokes, not giving certain characters enough screen time to really shine and the humour can be so unfunny like the scene where Ryuji gets relentlessly yelled at by the cast even though he literally saved them (did you know they were planning on also adding punching animations for them to most likely beat up Ryuji? At least they knew when to stop...)
Now, you might be asking? Why are you giving this game 5 stars when it has these really obvious flaws? It's because this game has left a massive impact on me and I wouldn't be the same person without it. I love this game to death and hopefully atlus can improve with persona 6 and make it even better than 5...I am definitely biased towards persona 5 royal and I will be the first person to admit that but I think everyone should try this game at least once.
this game isnt as bad i thought it was but unfortunately my SD card got corrupted while playing this game so i give it a .5/5 and if i could i would give it a 0 combat is insanely fun but the story is lacking a lil, i really like the interactions between some of the characters but man i fucking hate morgana so much
This game's story is so good when smt fans aren't constantly telling you that it's shit.
i hoped a remixed Persona 5 would change the horrifically mishandled sexual assault storyline to have mattered. i also hoped it wouldn't treat Ryuji's abuse like a joke. but i guess asking for Persona 5 to be good was asking for too much.
On so many levels Persona 5 Royal is such a beautifully realized work of art that goes above and beyond as it progresses. Story-wise it not only takes bold turns that build so much character but also cuts into the meat of its psychologically driven themes in a way feels so natural to its vital rebellion motif. All of its vision is even further fleshed out through the endlessly creative designs of its supernatural elements that paint a bigger picture of sin.
While I didn't play the original Persona 5, I know that I definitely would have had a few major issues with it. With Royal, I have none. Not only is mementos completely revamped, it's a grinding heaven that offers a much-needed breather in between the palaces. Akechi's originally rushed character arc is also fleshed out unbelievably well, and the new third semester has such a refreshingly mature outlook on morality and trauma that just floored me - recontextualizing every single bit of the thieves' journey up to this point and emphasizing the importance of their growth in such an emotional light.
Yes 100+ hours is a huge amount of time to dedicate oneself to anything, but honestly I didn't feel a tenth of that time even with several playthroughs. It just strikes the perfect balance of everything that I want in a game to the point where I genuinely struggle to think of things that feel more investing.
So yeah, I unabashedly adore this
[Edit: here's a big ramble that I wrote cause I couldn't sleep]
Simply put, this is my favorite game and tied favorite piece of art of all-time.
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that there is nothing as uniquely balanced as it. For a game with a lengthy set-up rooted in trauma and injustice as well as consistent urgency prevalent with life-threatening deadlines, it’s extraordinary how seamlessly it contrasts this with the most captivating art style and abundance of fun in its gameplay elements - as if it knows exactly when to reign it in and when to let all just fucking go gloriously berserk (Robbie Daymond’s unmatched voice acting alone captures this). And yes I know it’s around 120 hours long for one play through, however, it has the best pay-off I’ve ever experienced to make it worth such a length - culminating in the most bittersweet perfection imaginable as it shapes the journey of everything that’s been built towards.
Alongside this, it provides the most refreshing breathing space through its social interactions. I love so many of these characters with my all heart and all the little slice of life moments that occur as I build my bonds with them in the game just have so much memorability. The initial formation of the Phantom Thieves feels like a real breakthrough of youthful rebellion and their journey with the international fame and infamy that comes alongside has such a palpable motivation to it that persists. The game’s use of time brings a real authenticity to the interactions as well. It highlights the importance of taking one’s time but also how certain decisions affect certain traits more earlier or later down the line. It seems obvious yet the way its presented here has stuck with me beyond measure.
Royal has also completely altered the way I view dungeons in games because of how it presents them as palaces. These palaces are layered manifestations of the distorted cognitions of increasingly corrupt members of society. The more I explore them, the more I’m blown away by how much detail lies in their surrealism even within just the background elements. Almost all of the palaces are masterpieces in of themselves (god the Tomb and Casino palaces are such a genius constructions it gives me goosebumps just thinking of them) but Royal’s additional palace takes the cake for my favorite as it taps into another realm psychologically.
The Persona series’ overarching conceptual link of improving social elements to heighten combat abilities has always been super fascinating to me and Royal absolutely has the best presentation of that foundational idea. Turn-based combat has never been smoother nor with such a functionality that adds to the game’s overall depth. The staple Velvet Room where the player can fuse, summon or strengthen their personas always has both a sinister and playful aura with how it is evoked subconsciously through a lack of control. Royal heightens this within the lore that lies in the personas themselves, evoking an otherworldly presence alongside the grounded stuff.
For all of these big elements, the little things stick with me just as much. A few examples: I love the goofy voice lines the shadows taunt in combat and even say them out loud myself a fair bit now just to have a laugh. I also can’t get enough of the little social media blurbs that happen after the Thieves do something and how on the nose the public’s fickleness is conveyed. The calling cards are also just the best fuck you ever to the villains, I go crazy in their announcements so much haha.
I gotta mention the soundtrack as well, Life Will Change, The Whims of Fate, Beneath the Mask, Ideal and the Real…this thing is loaded with endless, endless unstoppable bangers, but it's also the more subtle stuff like Sunset Bridge that plays at just the right moments of reflection that hit home so hard. Shoji Meguro is too OP.
Yeah I’ve been rambling way too hard but god there is so much I can gush about it here it’s honestly insane, truly the most exhilarating thing in the world.
While I didn't play the original Persona 5, I know that I definitely would have had a few major issues with it. With Royal, I have none. Not only is mementos completely revamped, it's a grinding heaven that offers a much-needed breather in between the palaces. Akechi's originally rushed character arc is also fleshed out unbelievably well, and the new third semester has such a refreshingly mature outlook on morality and trauma that just floored me - recontextualizing every single bit of the thieves' journey up to this point and emphasizing the importance of their growth in such an emotional light.
Yes 100+ hours is a huge amount of time to dedicate oneself to anything, but honestly I didn't feel a tenth of that time even with several playthroughs. It just strikes the perfect balance of everything that I want in a game to the point where I genuinely struggle to think of things that feel more investing.
So yeah, I unabashedly adore this
[Edit: here's a big ramble that I wrote cause I couldn't sleep]
Simply put, this is my favorite game and tied favorite piece of art of all-time.
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that there is nothing as uniquely balanced as it. For a game with a lengthy set-up rooted in trauma and injustice as well as consistent urgency prevalent with life-threatening deadlines, it’s extraordinary how seamlessly it contrasts this with the most captivating art style and abundance of fun in its gameplay elements - as if it knows exactly when to reign it in and when to let all just fucking go gloriously berserk (Robbie Daymond’s unmatched voice acting alone captures this). And yes I know it’s around 120 hours long for one play through, however, it has the best pay-off I’ve ever experienced to make it worth such a length - culminating in the most bittersweet perfection imaginable as it shapes the journey of everything that’s been built towards.
Alongside this, it provides the most refreshing breathing space through its social interactions. I love so many of these characters with my all heart and all the little slice of life moments that occur as I build my bonds with them in the game just have so much memorability. The initial formation of the Phantom Thieves feels like a real breakthrough of youthful rebellion and their journey with the international fame and infamy that comes alongside has such a palpable motivation to it that persists. The game’s use of time brings a real authenticity to the interactions as well. It highlights the importance of taking one’s time but also how certain decisions affect certain traits more earlier or later down the line. It seems obvious yet the way its presented here has stuck with me beyond measure.
Royal has also completely altered the way I view dungeons in games because of how it presents them as palaces. These palaces are layered manifestations of the distorted cognitions of increasingly corrupt members of society. The more I explore them, the more I’m blown away by how much detail lies in their surrealism even within just the background elements. Almost all of the palaces are masterpieces in of themselves (god the Tomb and Casino palaces are such a genius constructions it gives me goosebumps just thinking of them) but Royal’s additional palace takes the cake for my favorite as it taps into another realm psychologically.
The Persona series’ overarching conceptual link of improving social elements to heighten combat abilities has always been super fascinating to me and Royal absolutely has the best presentation of that foundational idea. Turn-based combat has never been smoother nor with such a functionality that adds to the game’s overall depth. The staple Velvet Room where the player can fuse, summon or strengthen their personas always has both a sinister and playful aura with how it is evoked subconsciously through a lack of control. Royal heightens this within the lore that lies in the personas themselves, evoking an otherworldly presence alongside the grounded stuff.
For all of these big elements, the little things stick with me just as much. A few examples: I love the goofy voice lines the shadows taunt in combat and even say them out loud myself a fair bit now just to have a laugh. I also can’t get enough of the little social media blurbs that happen after the Thieves do something and how on the nose the public’s fickleness is conveyed. The calling cards are also just the best fuck you ever to the villains, I go crazy in their announcements so much haha.
I gotta mention the soundtrack as well, Life Will Change, The Whims of Fate, Beneath the Mask, Ideal and the Real…this thing is loaded with endless, endless unstoppable bangers, but it's also the more subtle stuff like Sunset Bridge that plays at just the right moments of reflection that hit home so hard. Shoji Meguro is too OP.
Yeah I’ve been rambling way too hard but god there is so much I can gush about it here it’s honestly insane, truly the most exhilarating thing in the world.
it is that good
it would of been better if it has ichiban but as my 2nd jrpg its pretty pog
Persona 5 Royal é uma das melhores peças de entretenimento que já consumi. Tem uma arte muito estilosa, narrativa enorme e excelente, personagens muito legais, um mundo cheio de coisas divertidas pra fazer, combate simples que diverte bastante, uma das melhores trilha-sonoras de todos os tempos e um final emocionante.
Amei cada momento do jogo e com certeza é um dos melhores que já joguei.
O jogo tem uma narrativa excelente de centenas de horas que desenvolve muito bem, cheia de diálogos e é rica de momentos épicos e plot-twists insanos, passa uma mensagem muito boa e é repleta de personagens super carismáticos. Cada um dos personagens tem sua própria história pessoal e cada história é muito interessante de ouvir.
O mundo de Persona 5 é vivo e repleto de atividades que agregam bastante á jogabilidade. Além do mundo real, existe o "metaverso", um mundo cognitivo onde toda a fantasia do jogo se apresenta com criaturas mágicas, poderes, tesouros e palácios.
Explorar os palácios deste mundo é algo muito interessante de fazer, apesar de certos palácios serem bem chatos, é sempre legal lutar contra as sombras. O combate de turnos é simples e até fácil, diverte bastante e proporciona boss-fights épicas.
O ponto que mais brilha em Persona 5 é claro, sua trilha-sonora; simplesmente perfeita! Tem uma composição excelente, uma das melhores de todos os tempos!
Persona 5 Royal é um jogo que todos devem ao menos tentar, mesmo se não for o seu tipo. Apesar de ser longo pra caramba, vale muito a pena embarcar nesta jornada e acompanhar a aventura do protagonista nesse mundo cognitivo misterioso.
Nota final: 10/10, Masterpiece.
Amei cada momento do jogo e com certeza é um dos melhores que já joguei.
O jogo tem uma narrativa excelente de centenas de horas que desenvolve muito bem, cheia de diálogos e é rica de momentos épicos e plot-twists insanos, passa uma mensagem muito boa e é repleta de personagens super carismáticos. Cada um dos personagens tem sua própria história pessoal e cada história é muito interessante de ouvir.
O mundo de Persona 5 é vivo e repleto de atividades que agregam bastante á jogabilidade. Além do mundo real, existe o "metaverso", um mundo cognitivo onde toda a fantasia do jogo se apresenta com criaturas mágicas, poderes, tesouros e palácios.
Explorar os palácios deste mundo é algo muito interessante de fazer, apesar de certos palácios serem bem chatos, é sempre legal lutar contra as sombras. O combate de turnos é simples e até fácil, diverte bastante e proporciona boss-fights épicas.
O ponto que mais brilha em Persona 5 é claro, sua trilha-sonora; simplesmente perfeita! Tem uma composição excelente, uma das melhores de todos os tempos!
Persona 5 Royal é um jogo que todos devem ao menos tentar, mesmo se não for o seu tipo. Apesar de ser longo pra caramba, vale muito a pena embarcar nesta jornada e acompanhar a aventura do protagonista nesse mundo cognitivo misterioso.
Nota final: 10/10, Masterpiece.
Really good game. But it's not really the masterpiece I've been hearing so much.
Sure, it's great in the gameplay department but it's a tan lame with it's history and some characters being for the most part walking steriotypes compared to P4 which had better characters that felt more special and unique.
The combat is great. A lot of spectacle and little effects. Demon negotiation is here for some reason, it's more basic than in the SMT games but it opens for some interesting possibilities. The social aspect is here and greatly expanded from the past games.
It may be the best in the series, but it's not my favorite.
Sure, it's great in the gameplay department but it's a tan lame with it's history and some characters being for the most part walking steriotypes compared to P4 which had better characters that felt more special and unique.
The combat is great. A lot of spectacle and little effects. Demon negotiation is here for some reason, it's more basic than in the SMT games but it opens for some interesting possibilities. The social aspect is here and greatly expanded from the past games.
It may be the best in the series, but it's not my favorite.
A game that really stole my heart. I loved the characters because of how well they were written. The music was amazing and at times just really hyped me up for what was going on in the game. The song that plays in the café just calmed my mind and prepared me for my next challenge. The backstories of the characters you related to just make you cry - it's just super well written and connects you to the characters so easily. The turn based combat feels fresh and engaging - chaining attacks feels super good and the finishers always made me feel good. The game is pretty long but it's super worth to experience it. Only thing that leaves to be desired is Joker - wish we had some voice acting or just more character development because from what we do get from him he would be an amazing character. It's a shame he is just a self insert.
The game is an awesome rebel story - and pretty unusual for it to fight against the corrupt society we live in. Persona 5 and the content of Royal really just felt like a breath of fresh air to gaming.
The game is an awesome rebel story - and pretty unusual for it to fight against the corrupt society we live in. Persona 5 and the content of Royal really just felt like a breath of fresh air to gaming.
Goro Akechi and Takuto Maruki rocked my world.
This review contains spoilers
I really enjoyed my time with Persona 5 Royal, time spent over two full playthroughs (one with the base version ending, the other with the royal ending), clocking in at a staggering 180 hours in total. It gave me a newfound appreciation for JRPGs, a genre I thought I simply didn't like. A few days after finishing it I tried Strikers, hoping that by virtue of it being an action game I'd have just as much fun with it. I ended up dropping it after a couple attempts, disappointed by the uninteresting story and the chaotic gameplay. This, combined with not finding another game to fixate on, led me to think quite a bit about P5R, eventually coming to the conclusion that, personally I don't find the narrative to be nearly as impactful as it had the potential to.
Part 1: Take your heart
P5R managed to make me play a JRPG from beginning to end, something that older and more revered games like Final Fantasy X ans Chrono Trigger couldn't manage. While I could say it did so with its strong narrative hook or the persona collecting system, the honest truth is that the game is piss easy. I can only recall two parts in the main story I found truly difficult, my NG exploration of Kamoshida's palace and the Okumura boss fight. While I have no shame in admitting I had to use a guide in the latter case, both were exhilarating moments, where planning your route and picking your next move felt truly important. What's truly special is that I dropped both FF-X and Chrono Trigger during what I felt were horribly unfair boss fights (they weren't, I'm just a scrub), something at first which I felt was true for Okumura as well. But when the strategy Icopied came up with worked, as I witnessed the evil CEO being brought down, I found myself laying in a pool of my own sweat, fumes exhaling from my every pore in a state of pure bliss; right then, something clicked in my brain, a thought emerged in my mind: "I fucking get JRPGs now, holy cow".
So that obviously meant I had become an adrenaline junkie, someone who would find ways to destroy the optional bosses too to chase that high, no matter how hard they were touted to be, right? Pfff, I wish, but since the game is long enough as it is, I honestly didn't want to excruciatingly plan and reorganize my entire persona roster in order to kill a couple of little girls.
Another reason which elevates the game is its presentation in battles, giving each clash a sense of urgency during small fight and scale in the large scale ones. I feel it's important to discuss it because it's also effective at heightening emotion during dialogue and story events, managing to mask (heehee) the plot's overall slow pace.
Part 2: Why not hoist the flag?
While the pace might be slow, I think you'll find it surprisingly breezy as long as you’re willing to take the story on its own terms, “living” day-by-day with its characters, with most events leading into each other naturally. Having downtime and taking things at your own pace feels amazing.
The story starts strong and Kamoshida’s palace is probably the highpoint, one of the few parts of the story I have next to no problems with. Madarame’s arc is also one of the better ones, although it’s here that a few cracks start to show. See, one of the themes explicitly tackled by the game is changing society for the better. Now, Madarame had it coming, what with the rampant and systemic student abuse; the Phantom Thieves undoubtly did a good action by punishing the fraud and rescuing Yusuke from a broken home. The real problem arises when none of the team members ever stops for a second to ask why Madarame, Kamoshida (or any other villain for that matter) were ever allowed to thrive in the toxic environment that their position afforded them. This stings especially when larger implications such as the morality of the team’s actions being put into question by Akechi and Ann; not to mention that these arguments can be rebuked with the simple fact that most palace owners act like they're bad guys straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
While Kamoshida was a monster, the conspiratorial silence imposed by the structure of the school is left untouched after his confession. We even see during Ryuji’s social link that a new mini-tyrant has taken the reins of the afterschool sports clubs. Thankfully he’s exposed by Ryuji and Joker, but if it this easy for any shitty person to take control of prestigious positions with only a select few being able to stop them, what’s the point in fighting just them when the real issue is an institution allowing this revolving door of abusers? Besides, that is far from the only questionable aspect of school; time and time again, we see teachers like Kamoshida and the vice principal reprimanding students by threatening to withold their admission letters to college, turning them into a tool to effectively hold the students' future hostage. Why are such practices never even put into discussion, only meekly accepted?
Still, the early arcs can be excused (and have in fact a more believable narrative) because the Phanton Thieves are rookies, still lacking the experience and the big picture vision to realize the deeper workings of their world. Although this excuse slowly loses credibility as the group gains new members, each from a different walk of life.
The first two bosses are far from the only times an individual targeted by the phantom thieves is a member of a larger, destructive structure of power. Kaneshiro was a massive letdown exactly because his arc misses the entire point regarding the damage which organized crime inflicts on communities. The thing is, I have no problem with the portrayal of Kaneshiro, but with how nothing fundamentally changes after his defeat. He’s taken into custody, we can probably assume his criminal family will be disbanded, with its members being also put in prison or going off the grid; we can also assume the drug deals in Shibuya will stop and the children involved will be allowed to stop without fear of repercussion, but that’s probably it. Nothing but the restoration of the status quo, now with more hype for the future endeavors of the Phantom Thieves. Again, a good deed, but most of the consequences I wrote are logical deductions I had to come up with myself. Knowing how criminal groups operate, by the end of the month a new burgeoning yakuza family might have sprung up to replace the old one. The larger phenomenom is never contrasted, only its individual representatives are.
Okumura, my favourite boss in the game, suffers from the same problem. All throughout his palace we witness how he only sees his workers and immediate family as dehumanized robots. The dungeoncrawling further reinforces that, using its miniboss structure and the dialogue to display the abuse trickling down the hierarchy of command the way Ronald Reagan preached money would. It also ingeniously employs RPG tropes of timed puzzles and bridges that need to be lowered in order to progress, using them as metaphors for workplace abuse. Despite all that, Persona 5 still refuses to level a systemic critique at how such exploitative spaces are born, claiming it's all due to a combination of monetary debt and daddy issues. Haru’s social link might reassure us that now Okumura Foods is a good company, with a good CEO, but we simply have no way of knowing since Persona 5 seems uninterested in exploring any further ramifications of the old boss’s fall. The game basically asks us to take him at face value. It's so uninterested in fact, there’s even a small scene where Joker and Morgana overhear a conversation between two office workers who share their belief that the Phantom Thieves should punish every company that mistreats its employees. How do they respond? Morgana brushes it off in a single line like it's not their problem.
Once Sae and Shido’s palaces roll around it seems more and more like the Phantom Thieves are incapable of understanding how to actually bring any meaningful change in society. This is where it gets especially infuriating, because there are hints dropped here and there that the problem goes much deeper than corrupt individuals, such as when Akechi explicitely points out that 99% of court cases end in guilty verdicts and that the system is clearly flawed. Yet, despite having basically the reached the finale of the story, the cast still refuses to actually engage in any kind of meaningful discussion about it. In the end, defeating Shido, while once again something good and necessary, simply results in the maintaining of the status quo, the old ruling class staying in power. Nothing fundamentally changes, they just avoided the worst case scenario.
Part 3: Life might change
To be fair, the main reason I believe Persona 5 shies away from these questions is that for most of the bosses, the main characters fight them more because of personal grievances than anything. While this works well story-wise, giving each party member a good reason for joining the team and sticking with it, it ends up eclipsing the larger theme of rebellion and of anyone in the world being able to fight against cruel circumstances. One dungeon where this ends up working to its benefit is Futaba’s Palace, since the more personal and intimate focus allows for a greater focus on the arc’s specific themes without having to necessarily deal with more all-encompassing societal problems.
For the base game's final arc, the story suddenly takes a weird turn, deciding to go 100% supernatural for its ending. After a story that features somewhat grounded and believable characters, having the big reveal be that a lawful evil god was just manipulating the main character for his goals can’t help but feel somewhat out of place. This is also where the game drops most pretentions of its story being about ordinary people standing up for themselves and simply deifies the Phantom Thieves, glorifying them and putting the burden of humanity’s survival on their shoulders. The original ending is satisfying at first glance, but deep down, I feel a sense like things haven’t actually improved. I am especially ambivalent regarding the scene that happens between Sae and Joker on 2/13: on the one hand I do want to read it the way the game wants us to, with society giving back to the wronged after all their struggles, but on the other it feels misguided to leave everything in the hands of the system that put the characters in the difficult situation they were in at the start.
I don’t have much to add when it comes to the arc added by Royal, I simply find it a great addition which does a much better job at dealing with its themes of acceptance of reality much more coherently than the base game does with its own tackling of rebellion, much for the same reason I found the Futaba arc more compelling than the others.
Maybe you find this review to be missing the point of Persona 5 Royal, that the game doesn’t need to talk about its topic in a revolutionary light, and to be honest, that’s quite fair. On a surface level, it works really well as pure entertainment and a fantasy of escape from reality. I’m just a player who finds himself disappointed that a game which takes around one hundred hours per playthrough never bothered to dig deeper into its own themes.
Part 1: Take your heart
P5R managed to make me play a JRPG from beginning to end, something that older and more revered games like Final Fantasy X ans Chrono Trigger couldn't manage. While I could say it did so with its strong narrative hook or the persona collecting system, the honest truth is that the game is piss easy. I can only recall two parts in the main story I found truly difficult, my NG exploration of Kamoshida's palace and the Okumura boss fight. While I have no shame in admitting I had to use a guide in the latter case, both were exhilarating moments, where planning your route and picking your next move felt truly important. What's truly special is that I dropped both FF-X and Chrono Trigger during what I felt were horribly unfair boss fights (they weren't, I'm just a scrub), something at first which I felt was true for Okumura as well. But when the strategy I
So that obviously meant I had become an adrenaline junkie, someone who would find ways to destroy the optional bosses too to chase that high, no matter how hard they were touted to be, right? Pfff, I wish, but since the game is long enough as it is, I honestly didn't want to excruciatingly plan and reorganize my entire persona roster in order to kill a couple of little girls.
Another reason which elevates the game is its presentation in battles, giving each clash a sense of urgency during small fight and scale in the large scale ones. I feel it's important to discuss it because it's also effective at heightening emotion during dialogue and story events, managing to mask (heehee) the plot's overall slow pace.
Part 2: Why not hoist the flag?
While the pace might be slow, I think you'll find it surprisingly breezy as long as you’re willing to take the story on its own terms, “living” day-by-day with its characters, with most events leading into each other naturally. Having downtime and taking things at your own pace feels amazing.
The story starts strong and Kamoshida’s palace is probably the highpoint, one of the few parts of the story I have next to no problems with. Madarame’s arc is also one of the better ones, although it’s here that a few cracks start to show. See, one of the themes explicitly tackled by the game is changing society for the better. Now, Madarame had it coming, what with the rampant and systemic student abuse; the Phantom Thieves undoubtly did a good action by punishing the fraud and rescuing Yusuke from a broken home. The real problem arises when none of the team members ever stops for a second to ask why Madarame, Kamoshida (or any other villain for that matter) were ever allowed to thrive in the toxic environment that their position afforded them. This stings especially when larger implications such as the morality of the team’s actions being put into question by Akechi and Ann; not to mention that these arguments can be rebuked with the simple fact that most palace owners act like they're bad guys straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
While Kamoshida was a monster, the conspiratorial silence imposed by the structure of the school is left untouched after his confession. We even see during Ryuji’s social link that a new mini-tyrant has taken the reins of the afterschool sports clubs. Thankfully he’s exposed by Ryuji and Joker, but if it this easy for any shitty person to take control of prestigious positions with only a select few being able to stop them, what’s the point in fighting just them when the real issue is an institution allowing this revolving door of abusers? Besides, that is far from the only questionable aspect of school; time and time again, we see teachers like Kamoshida and the vice principal reprimanding students by threatening to withold their admission letters to college, turning them into a tool to effectively hold the students' future hostage. Why are such practices never even put into discussion, only meekly accepted?
Still, the early arcs can be excused (and have in fact a more believable narrative) because the Phanton Thieves are rookies, still lacking the experience and the big picture vision to realize the deeper workings of their world. Although this excuse slowly loses credibility as the group gains new members, each from a different walk of life.
The first two bosses are far from the only times an individual targeted by the phantom thieves is a member of a larger, destructive structure of power. Kaneshiro was a massive letdown exactly because his arc misses the entire point regarding the damage which organized crime inflicts on communities. The thing is, I have no problem with the portrayal of Kaneshiro, but with how nothing fundamentally changes after his defeat. He’s taken into custody, we can probably assume his criminal family will be disbanded, with its members being also put in prison or going off the grid; we can also assume the drug deals in Shibuya will stop and the children involved will be allowed to stop without fear of repercussion, but that’s probably it. Nothing but the restoration of the status quo, now with more hype for the future endeavors of the Phantom Thieves. Again, a good deed, but most of the consequences I wrote are logical deductions I had to come up with myself. Knowing how criminal groups operate, by the end of the month a new burgeoning yakuza family might have sprung up to replace the old one. The larger phenomenom is never contrasted, only its individual representatives are.
Okumura, my favourite boss in the game, suffers from the same problem. All throughout his palace we witness how he only sees his workers and immediate family as dehumanized robots. The dungeoncrawling further reinforces that, using its miniboss structure and the dialogue to display the abuse trickling down the hierarchy of command the way Ronald Reagan preached money would. It also ingeniously employs RPG tropes of timed puzzles and bridges that need to be lowered in order to progress, using them as metaphors for workplace abuse. Despite all that, Persona 5 still refuses to level a systemic critique at how such exploitative spaces are born, claiming it's all due to a combination of monetary debt and daddy issues. Haru’s social link might reassure us that now Okumura Foods is a good company, with a good CEO, but we simply have no way of knowing since Persona 5 seems uninterested in exploring any further ramifications of the old boss’s fall. The game basically asks us to take him at face value. It's so uninterested in fact, there’s even a small scene where Joker and Morgana overhear a conversation between two office workers who share their belief that the Phantom Thieves should punish every company that mistreats its employees. How do they respond? Morgana brushes it off in a single line like it's not their problem.
Once Sae and Shido’s palaces roll around it seems more and more like the Phantom Thieves are incapable of understanding how to actually bring any meaningful change in society. This is where it gets especially infuriating, because there are hints dropped here and there that the problem goes much deeper than corrupt individuals, such as when Akechi explicitely points out that 99% of court cases end in guilty verdicts and that the system is clearly flawed. Yet, despite having basically the reached the finale of the story, the cast still refuses to actually engage in any kind of meaningful discussion about it. In the end, defeating Shido, while once again something good and necessary, simply results in the maintaining of the status quo, the old ruling class staying in power. Nothing fundamentally changes, they just avoided the worst case scenario.
Part 3: Life might change
To be fair, the main reason I believe Persona 5 shies away from these questions is that for most of the bosses, the main characters fight them more because of personal grievances than anything. While this works well story-wise, giving each party member a good reason for joining the team and sticking with it, it ends up eclipsing the larger theme of rebellion and of anyone in the world being able to fight against cruel circumstances. One dungeon where this ends up working to its benefit is Futaba’s Palace, since the more personal and intimate focus allows for a greater focus on the arc’s specific themes without having to necessarily deal with more all-encompassing societal problems.
For the base game's final arc, the story suddenly takes a weird turn, deciding to go 100% supernatural for its ending. After a story that features somewhat grounded and believable characters, having the big reveal be that a lawful evil god was just manipulating the main character for his goals can’t help but feel somewhat out of place. This is also where the game drops most pretentions of its story being about ordinary people standing up for themselves and simply deifies the Phantom Thieves, glorifying them and putting the burden of humanity’s survival on their shoulders. The original ending is satisfying at first glance, but deep down, I feel a sense like things haven’t actually improved. I am especially ambivalent regarding the scene that happens between Sae and Joker on 2/13: on the one hand I do want to read it the way the game wants us to, with society giving back to the wronged after all their struggles, but on the other it feels misguided to leave everything in the hands of the system that put the characters in the difficult situation they were in at the start.
I don’t have much to add when it comes to the arc added by Royal, I simply find it a great addition which does a much better job at dealing with its themes of acceptance of reality much more coherently than the base game does with its own tackling of rebellion, much for the same reason I found the Futaba arc more compelling than the others.
Maybe you find this review to be missing the point of Persona 5 Royal, that the game doesn’t need to talk about its topic in a revolutionary light, and to be honest, that’s quite fair. On a surface level, it works really well as pure entertainment and a fantasy of escape from reality. I’m just a player who finds himself disappointed that a game which takes around one hundred hours per playthrough never bothered to dig deeper into its own themes.
Who needs well written characters, or interesting narrative arcs, or well paced events, or complex gameplay depth when the menus look this good!
Thank you for your service Billy Kametz
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
Persona 5 Royal improves on Persona 5 in every way, unfortunately this way is so disconnected storywise that it almost acts as an entirely seperate experience to the main game, being thematically an almost condemnation of the main game's storyline due to how disjointed the two narratives are. However, it is a superior storyline in almost every way, discarding many of the awful villains employed before in favour of one that had some pathos and connection to the themes of the Persona series as a whole of the exploration of the self, rather than the exploration of society the original Persona 5 opted for.
Gameplay takes a simultaneous leap in interesting ideas and a large stumble in difficulty due to said ideas, the new systems at play all make an easy experience absolutely trivial, an example being Persona traits add a lot more customisation to personalising a Persona's playstyle and ability usage but it becomes apparent this system isn't balanced at all, like giving Alice the ability to make instant death spells cost no SP, resulting in Alice killing every encounter that doesn't have an immunity to death instantly and cancelling out most late game random encounters. Ultimately, Persona 5 Royal shines in what it doesn't share with it's predecessor, and what it does share looks even worse in comparison.
Gameplay takes a simultaneous leap in interesting ideas and a large stumble in difficulty due to said ideas, the new systems at play all make an easy experience absolutely trivial, an example being Persona traits add a lot more customisation to personalising a Persona's playstyle and ability usage but it becomes apparent this system isn't balanced at all, like giving Alice the ability to make instant death spells cost no SP, resulting in Alice killing every encounter that doesn't have an immunity to death instantly and cancelling out most late game random encounters. Ultimately, Persona 5 Royal shines in what it doesn't share with it's predecessor, and what it does share looks even worse in comparison.
This review contains spoilers
finalmente eu zerei essa budéga
o jogo normal (ou seja a versão que não é a royal) tem um antagonista bem fraco, e isso pra mim foi o maior acerto de persona 5 royal
Essa versão estendida do jogo adiciona um novo antagonista, o doctor Maruki, que por si só já carrega essa versão nas costas, simplesmente pelo fato dele ser um dos melhores antagonistas da série Persona
vale dizer também que essa versão adiciona muito conteúdo para o jogo, no meu caso eu zerei o jogo normal com 50 horas, já essa versão eu zerei com 84 horas
a edição royal desse jogo também adiciona musicas novas, que são incríveis, principalmente a musica do último palácio
essa versão também adiciona dois novos personagens para sua equipe, sendo eles a Sumire (que tem seu arco muito mais aprofundado) e o Akechi que dá as caras aqui com uma persona nova e um visual totalmente novo
10/10, jogo da minha vida
o jogo normal (ou seja a versão que não é a royal) tem um antagonista bem fraco, e isso pra mim foi o maior acerto de persona 5 royal
Essa versão estendida do jogo adiciona um novo antagonista, o doctor Maruki, que por si só já carrega essa versão nas costas, simplesmente pelo fato dele ser um dos melhores antagonistas da série Persona
vale dizer também que essa versão adiciona muito conteúdo para o jogo, no meu caso eu zerei o jogo normal com 50 horas, já essa versão eu zerei com 84 horas
a edição royal desse jogo também adiciona musicas novas, que são incríveis, principalmente a musica do último palácio
essa versão também adiciona dois novos personagens para sua equipe, sendo eles a Sumire (que tem seu arco muito mais aprofundado) e o Akechi que dá as caras aqui com uma persona nova e um visual totalmente novo
10/10, jogo da minha vida
I've got to commend P5R on the fact that it assumes all Persona 5 fans must already accept that the pacing is a lost cause and lean in even further into its absurd longevity.
But maybe when I feel a game doesnt respect my time when I play it through a fucking pandemic and am stuck in my house playing vidya more than ever before, it can actually fuck off.
There's good changes in Royal, from the minor to the more substantial, and there are things I like a lot about P5 in general. Its art style is fantastic, the soundtrack is a banger, it's very cozy. Royal makes appreciated changes to combat, bosses and dungeons, and theres a bunch of little things improved throughout the whole game.
The extra story content in this game should absolutely have been like the Answer in FES where you can just launch with it. Yes, the Answer is garbage, and there's a bunch of little changes in the main story but 90% of the game being a retread of a story that doesn't really stand up to the scruitiny of me getting increasingly frustrated at it.
And the thing is, if P5R was an edit, maybe with an extra story added at the end seperately like the answer, it could have been really great. Persona 5 is a game that could have more interesting story content added whilst also being shorter. Dungeons and characters could be consolidated, the introduction could be shortened, the calendar could be made basically half as long - but Royal does none of this.
It's a shame, really. If this game was 50 hours instead of 100+ I could probably see past more of it's issues. Until then, fuck it.
But maybe when I feel a game doesnt respect my time when I play it through a fucking pandemic and am stuck in my house playing vidya more than ever before, it can actually fuck off.
There's good changes in Royal, from the minor to the more substantial, and there are things I like a lot about P5 in general. Its art style is fantastic, the soundtrack is a banger, it's very cozy. Royal makes appreciated changes to combat, bosses and dungeons, and theres a bunch of little things improved throughout the whole game.
The extra story content in this game should absolutely have been like the Answer in FES where you can just launch with it. Yes, the Answer is garbage, and there's a bunch of little changes in the main story but 90% of the game being a retread of a story that doesn't really stand up to the scruitiny of me getting increasingly frustrated at it.
And the thing is, if P5R was an edit, maybe with an extra story added at the end seperately like the answer, it could have been really great. Persona 5 is a game that could have more interesting story content added whilst also being shorter. Dungeons and characters could be consolidated, the introduction could be shortened, the calendar could be made basically half as long - but Royal does none of this.
It's a shame, really. If this game was 50 hours instead of 100+ I could probably see past more of it's issues. Until then, fuck it.
This review contains spoilers
Not finished with my replay yet but just wanted to say rest in peace to Billy Kametz, the voice actor for one of the most interesting antagonists I have ever seen in any video game, Takuto Maruki.
Rest in peace, Doctor.
Rest in peace, Doctor.
About as fun as accidentally pulling out a pube