Persona 5 is a simulator, not an RPG. Joker is a lifeless vessel for teenage boys to project themselves onto, making them feel like the most heroic and sexually desirable person in the world.
It's a shame that a game can have such a terribly written story, archetypal characters, and fucked up morals when almost everything else about the game is so good. The gameplay loop is addicting, raiding palaces is rewarding, the soundtrack is excellent, the UI is vibrant, and the time management systems are thoughtful.
Ann is one of the only well written characters in the game IMO, and serves as a great example: well written with substantial background, with a well-intentioned moral positioning. The game promptly throws this all away in favor of being able to date your teacher and giving Ann an objectifying skin tight suit and swimsuit outfits, and even asked her to model nude. Futaba similarly has an excellently presented background and a breathtaking palace that does wonders for exploring her character, and then it all gets thrown away when you hear her open her mouth. You can also date her, which is kinda messed up. The game is a harem simulator, full stop. Nearly every woman is written to desire the protagonist (who can't be a woman despite being silent, and the devs failed to ever explain why...maybe it's because the game only makes sense from a straight male perspective). Joker has zero personality aside from being the desirable center of attention that fixes everyone's problems, without any problems or nuance of his own.
The game is allergic to taking hard political stances (unless you count transphobia and homophobia) despite one of the main villains being a literal politician. A politician, might I add, whose dialogue conveniently never suggests what real-world political affiliations he might have. The game's general themes surround rebellion against the "adults". Atlus are the "adults". Writing like this controls the status quo and shapes how society views women, etc more than you could ever imagine. P5R's milquetoast story puts its genre to shame, especially with a runtime as long as it is. The extra semester's story was marginally interesting, if not very dense, but it's essentially a bloated infodump on a character with little depth otherwise, and eventually just ends up feeling like a worse Brave New World.
This game deserves a lot of shit for its spineless posturing and depraved instances of objectification, casual bigotry, and self-censorship in favor of marketability. But I feel ashamed to say that I still played it and had a decent bit of fun. I collected all of the will seeds, I explored Mementos, I played darts, and I did my social links. There's a skeleton of a great game here, but the bones are covered in rotten meat.
It's a shame that a game can have such a terribly written story, archetypal characters, and fucked up morals when almost everything else about the game is so good. The gameplay loop is addicting, raiding palaces is rewarding, the soundtrack is excellent, the UI is vibrant, and the time management systems are thoughtful.
Ann is one of the only well written characters in the game IMO, and serves as a great example: well written with substantial background, with a well-intentioned moral positioning. The game promptly throws this all away in favor of being able to date your teacher and giving Ann an objectifying skin tight suit and swimsuit outfits, and even asked her to model nude. Futaba similarly has an excellently presented background and a breathtaking palace that does wonders for exploring her character, and then it all gets thrown away when you hear her open her mouth. You can also date her, which is kinda messed up. The game is a harem simulator, full stop. Nearly every woman is written to desire the protagonist (who can't be a woman despite being silent, and the devs failed to ever explain why...maybe it's because the game only makes sense from a straight male perspective). Joker has zero personality aside from being the desirable center of attention that fixes everyone's problems, without any problems or nuance of his own.
The game is allergic to taking hard political stances (unless you count transphobia and homophobia) despite one of the main villains being a literal politician. A politician, might I add, whose dialogue conveniently never suggests what real-world political affiliations he might have. The game's general themes surround rebellion against the "adults". Atlus are the "adults". Writing like this controls the status quo and shapes how society views women, etc more than you could ever imagine. P5R's milquetoast story puts its genre to shame, especially with a runtime as long as it is. The extra semester's story was marginally interesting, if not very dense, but it's essentially a bloated infodump on a character with little depth otherwise, and eventually just ends up feeling like a worse Brave New World.
This game deserves a lot of shit for its spineless posturing and depraved instances of objectification, casual bigotry, and self-censorship in favor of marketability. But I feel ashamed to say that I still played it and had a decent bit of fun. I collected all of the will seeds, I explored Mementos, I played darts, and I did my social links. There's a skeleton of a great game here, but the bones are covered in rotten meat.