this game is mediocre in this essay i will...

from what ive seen writing is so bad oh my god.. graphics wise is the best tbfh.. but those bland ass characters god k1ll me pls

the characters' humanity is on the hands of the MC, in order for the rest of the cast to grow and be (or feel) human, the MC just has to be there until they just find a solution, which is lame tbh. take p4 or even p3, the characters grow OUT of the social links, and thats where these characters start to feel human IMO.

in persona 4 everyone grows all together, in contrast to p5 where the rest of the cast does not get grow, not the slightest. the main "arc" of p5 for the cast is: standing up to the man, advocating against adults, hating society. dont get me wrong theyre great topics to cover... but like to make it everyones' arc? its... lazy.

i wish i couldve finished playing this game, instead i shelved it and watched bits of the rest on youtube. anyway overall: writing bad, graphics fucking sick. the gameplay is decent.

It was so bad that it made me appreciate persona 4. Music is decent, atmosphere is spot on. The UI designer is godly. The characters are shallow and nothing like any of the old persona characters. So many things just remind me of the "don't think, just consume" audience. I understand why it's popular for young Japanese men but I don't entirely get the obsession in the West. If the reason you like the game is it's comfy and you don't think too much about it, sure. But as soon as you apply any logical thinking to the characters and their actions, the fun of it is gone. I have a hard time shutting my brain off especially for games about the characters, their development, and the story. If you're a gameplay Chad then it's okay, it's very easy, especially on the hardest difficulty since you can one shot most things.

Worst game I ever played.
A boring, terribly paced dumpster fire that progressively gets worse.
None of the characters are interesting or worth caring about, they're all 2 dimensional and boring and it is impossible to care about them because of how badly they are written.
There is no real chemistry between the main cast, it feels like they are held together by duct tape, they don't feel like an actual friend group but rather people that gather together just to talk with the protagonist.
It's also terribly easy, there is not a single fight that is challenging even on the merciless difficulty, a massive step down from the previous entries. Most encounters end within seconds and you don't even have to make use of the weakness system to defeat them in one turn.
Soundtrack is good though

Having been excited for this game before it released and playing it on launch (twice), I was extremely disappointed by it. Especially as the game drops the ball on its intended theme of "emancipating yourself from society".

You can tell this game went through heavy rewrites by the way it seems to be told through a series of vignettes instead of having a solid, well-written plot. The characters are bland and annoying, with their only memorable traits often being their worst - and most annoying - qualities, which brings into question why the focus on building relationships with these characters exists.

This is legitimately the only piece of media [I've experienced] where Aoi Yuuki voices a character I dislike, too, so that's also not a great sign.