Out and out a masterpiece. Well and truly. I've always said a five-star rating doesn't mean a game is perfect; nothing is. It means it's perfect at what it's trying to accomplish. And that's this game to a tee. It's just 100 hours of phenomenal storytelling, elite characters, thoughtful worlds, UNREAL music, sublime turn-based combat and, most importantly, heart. All around, it's the kind of experience that's unbelievably special; just the culmination of years of Atlus making some of the best RPGs ever and finishing things off with a bang.
And as I mentioned, I really don't think it's flawless by any means. The pacing is janky as hell at points, locking you into these infinitely long, linear story segments between each main mission where all the free time aspects are locked off and you just endure all the characters waffling on about the same plot details for like two hours. The Royal content, which I hadn't played up to now, has some of Atlus' best writing yet, finally fleshes out Goro and has a top-notch villain, but it comes so late that it kinda feels like its wrestling with the original conclusion considering it introduces the THIRD mysterious final big bad in a row that forces the team to come together for a "one last job" final stand. And dear god, Morgana is still like my fucking prison warden, chatting mad shit at me from my bag about everything I haven't done yet.
But that stuff is kind of just part of Persona 5's charm in a way. It's made by a team that had a set goal; they wanted to make a gargantuan adventure which bonded you to this world and these characters in a way most RPGs simply can't. And they ate that shit up. Better than that, they ate that shit up TWICE. Royal is the best way to experience this world and hang out with these characters, and it leaves things in a much more final state than the original.
But to save you all from the 8,000 words I could write about how goddamn saucy this whole package is, all you need to know is that it's one of the best games ever made by one of the best developers of all time. It's that rare, once-in-a-generation experience that reminds you why you fell in love with video games in the first place, and I'd put up with Morgana yapping about all the Mementos Requests I haven't done for the rest of my life if it meant I could spend another 100 hours shooting the shit with its cast of goofy-ass dudes. Really, just a giga-chad of an RPG and the peak of what they can be when made right.
And as I mentioned, I really don't think it's flawless by any means. The pacing is janky as hell at points, locking you into these infinitely long, linear story segments between each main mission where all the free time aspects are locked off and you just endure all the characters waffling on about the same plot details for like two hours. The Royal content, which I hadn't played up to now, has some of Atlus' best writing yet, finally fleshes out Goro and has a top-notch villain, but it comes so late that it kinda feels like its wrestling with the original conclusion considering it introduces the THIRD mysterious final big bad in a row that forces the team to come together for a "one last job" final stand. And dear god, Morgana is still like my fucking prison warden, chatting mad shit at me from my bag about everything I haven't done yet.
But that stuff is kind of just part of Persona 5's charm in a way. It's made by a team that had a set goal; they wanted to make a gargantuan adventure which bonded you to this world and these characters in a way most RPGs simply can't. And they ate that shit up. Better than that, they ate that shit up TWICE. Royal is the best way to experience this world and hang out with these characters, and it leaves things in a much more final state than the original.
But to save you all from the 8,000 words I could write about how goddamn saucy this whole package is, all you need to know is that it's one of the best games ever made by one of the best developers of all time. It's that rare, once-in-a-generation experience that reminds you why you fell in love with video games in the first place, and I'd put up with Morgana yapping about all the Mementos Requests I haven't done for the rest of my life if it meant I could spend another 100 hours shooting the shit with its cast of goofy-ass dudes. Really, just a giga-chad of an RPG and the peak of what they can be when made right.