I really struggled to click with this game. The battle system is cumbersome. Visions in battle were frustrating and broke the pacing. Some characters (and arts) are objectively better than others yet the game incentivizes you to mix all of them in order to max affinity. In general, the affinity and skill trees among party members felt restricting and I would have much preferred a standard skill point system or something. I enjoyed the story, for the most part. Although I will say that I vastly prefer all of the spoiler-y story bits presented in the endgame to the actual party members themselves. The smaller scale interactions between party members got downright annoying at times and the voice acting was super iffy (it's been memed to death at this point but it seriously just feels annoying atp). You will never convince me that Riki is a cute or likeable character. I think Shulk's relationship with Fiora made sense but there was literally no reason to turn it into a love triangle with Melia other than fanservice/JRPG tropes that I detest. And it ultimately contributed to Melia feeling like the most incomplete character by the game's end. Sidequests sucked. They were super boring and did nothing to meaningfully expand the world or entertain the player. The collectopedia and gem crafting were stupid. Rebuilding colony 6 was tedious. The final dungeon had such a huge difficulty spike that I switched the game to easy mode in order to circumvent it. I'm glad the easy mode exists, but I wish I didn't have to use it. There were so many instances when I wished there was a run button. The soundtrack was very nice, and the visual remaster made the game look very pretty.

To me, this game feels like a good story, but presented all wrong. I don't care for the battle mechanics at all, side modes never held my attention, and I always felt like I needed to push to the end without wanting to ever stop and smell the roses. I feel like this would have been better as an anime or something. What good is a competent story if it's not fun to experience?

So I'm a classically trained violist, and I've been playing since I was around 9. Yanny vs Laurel really helped me grow as a musician because it was when I first understood ear training and aural skills. Upon first hearing the sound, my inclination was Yanny. I was a kid surrounded by the company of other kids, and I played an instrument with a semi-high register. It was only natural that I heard Yanny. But it was brought to my attention by my friend who played double bass that he heard Laurel. I decided to listen for the lower register, and there it was, clear as day! It was a really powerful moment for me and it really goes to show how two things can be true at the same time. Have a blessed day, everyone.

I can't bring myself to like it. It tries to be a more open collect-a-thon but its objectives are wildly varying in quality. The broodals were horrible excuses for bosses. There were many pipes/rockets that brought the player to plain looking platforming challenges, similar to Sunshine's fludd-less challenges. I thought we were past this. The Galaxy games (and 3D world!) gave us precise and focused platforming challenges. Odyssey just vibrates your controller at a ground pound spot for free moons. It's brainless. The best parts of the game were the most linear - I actually loved the Bowser Kingdom - it had excellent presentation. And for the love of god, please let us map buttons! Forcing motion controls yet again, and the diving controls are SO finnicky. Overrated tbh.

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.