Rate top gamesLet me start by saying that as of writing this, I have not played the other Persona games: 3, 4, their variants, or 5 Royal. That does not mean I am unfamiliar with them; on the contrary, I have a decent understanding of each game.
Persona 5 is a very special game. All the Personas are special games. They come around once in a blue moon and leave such an overwhelming impact for the years to come. However, Persona 5 will always hold a very special place in my heart, probably because it was the first game from the series that I experienced. But enough introductory fluff.
[There will be spoilers]
Persona 5 is phenomenal.
The game oozes style. Right off the bat, you’re given a taste of what you’re about to experience from the opening cutscene. Sleek black, white, and red, jazz fusion ala Herbie Hancock. I was sitting on my couch starry-eyed with a big ugly grin on my face when I booted up this game for the first time. And that grin never went away. Throughout the game’s somewhat lengthy introduction, the dialogue, all the way through the first palace, I was starstruck. This game was made specifically to appeal to me.
If there’s one thing Atlas mastered with this game in comparison to the others, it’s AESTHETIC. The menu screens, the fonts, the music—THE MUSIC. It’s vibrant when it wants to be vibrant and mellow when it wants to be mellow—perfectly encapsulating the dynamically contrasting lifestyle in the big city. The city itself is so interesting, each district different from the rest. There are cramped gray alleyways and then there are sprawling neon plazas, each setting full of things to do.
One of the core gameplay mechanics of P5 (as well as the other Personas) is that you, the player, live another life within the game. You’re a student, you have exams and pop questions thrown at you. You can and should study, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Why not get a part-time job instead? or just spend every hour after-school hanging out with your friends? or practice in the batting cages? or partake in oversized burger-consumption challenges? or workout until you collapse on the floor? or….
Just like in reality, you are given the difficult task of juggling your attention, using your time wisely, making the right choices. This might seem stressful and overwhelming, as much as it is in real life. However, the game constantly reminds you to do one thing and one thing only: TAKE YOUR TIME. A misleading phrase, "take your time" means use your time as you see fit, and don't stress it—at least that's my interpretation.
If there's one thing these Persona games stress, it's characters. Characters, characters, characters. And if there's a weak link in P5 (which believe me, there are), it's the characters. The writing does not do them any justice whatsoever (another weak link). A lot of the characters in P5 are very two-dimensional—both the confidants and especially the 'antagonists'. Some confidants are just "I am sad, listen to my problems" and virtually all the antagonists are just "mwahaha I'm a bad person!" The characters that really stood out to me in terms of development and writing were Sojiro Sakura, Munehisa Iwai, Sadayo Kawakami, Sae Niijima, Tae Takemi, and Yusuke Kitagawa. You can see a trend here (minus one character, of course).
On the subject of thematic material, P5 tackles a theme I have yet to see covered in a video game: societal complacency. As you and your ragtag group of corny, vigilante, double-life living superhero friends take down the ‘evil adults’ in a somewhat poorly-developed manner, your rise to fame is quickly lost due to not only information manipulation but also because society simply got bored of you. Their collective attention has shifted to whatever’s trendy next.
The endgame is particularly jarring when the true nature of Mementos is revealed. It’s a giant prison, and the people behind bars are there because they want to be. The game’s final boss, Yabbadabbadoo or whatever his name is, is a god created by the slothful nature of society and the desire to conform. Ultimately, your song and dance routine of “Wake up, get up, get out there” has fallen upon deaf ears.
In the end, after defeating Yabba-whatever, what really has changed? Sure, at the climax of the fight, the people give you their unwavering support and you channel their power in a way akin to Dragon Ball. But afterwards, everyone has just packed up and gone home, gone back to their routine. Who’s to say another Yabba-whatever won’t come to be again?
That’s why to me, P5 is so bittersweet. After this giant adventure, nothing’s really changed, and there’s nothing you can do for change to occur. “Life Will Change” is nothing but a ruse, a lie you’ve been telling yourself.
In the words of P5 Royal’s song “No More What Ifs”,
“…I know I won’t change anything because I can only be me.”
[There will be spoilers]
Persona 5 is phenomenal.
The game oozes style. Right off the bat, you’re given a taste of what you’re about to experience from the opening cutscene. Sleek black, white, and red, jazz fusion ala Herbie Hancock. I was sitting on my couch starry-eyed with a big ugly grin on my face when I booted up this game for the first time. And that grin never went away. Throughout the game’s somewhat lengthy introduction, the dialogue, all the way through the first palace, I was starstruck. This game was made specifically to appeal to me.
If there’s one thing Atlas mastered with this game in comparison to the others, it’s AESTHETIC. The menu screens, the fonts, the music—THE MUSIC. It’s vibrant when it wants to be vibrant and mellow when it wants to be mellow—perfectly encapsulating the dynamically contrasting lifestyle in the big city. The city itself is so interesting, each district different from the rest. There are cramped gray alleyways and then there are sprawling neon plazas, each setting full of things to do.
One of the core gameplay mechanics of P5 (as well as the other Personas) is that you, the player, live another life within the game. You’re a student, you have exams and pop questions thrown at you. You can and should study, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Why not get a part-time job instead? or just spend every hour after-school hanging out with your friends? or practice in the batting cages? or partake in oversized burger-consumption challenges? or workout until you collapse on the floor? or….
Just like in reality, you are given the difficult task of juggling your attention, using your time wisely, making the right choices. This might seem stressful and overwhelming, as much as it is in real life. However, the game constantly reminds you to do one thing and one thing only: TAKE YOUR TIME. A misleading phrase, "take your time" means use your time as you see fit, and don't stress it—at least that's my interpretation.
If there's one thing these Persona games stress, it's characters. Characters, characters, characters. And if there's a weak link in P5 (which believe me, there are), it's the characters. The writing does not do them any justice whatsoever (another weak link). A lot of the characters in P5 are very two-dimensional—both the confidants and especially the 'antagonists'. Some confidants are just "I am sad, listen to my problems" and virtually all the antagonists are just "mwahaha I'm a bad person!" The characters that really stood out to me in terms of development and writing were Sojiro Sakura, Munehisa Iwai, Sadayo Kawakami, Sae Niijima, Tae Takemi, and Yusuke Kitagawa. You can see a trend here (minus one character, of course).
On the subject of thematic material, P5 tackles a theme I have yet to see covered in a video game: societal complacency. As you and your ragtag group of corny, vigilante, double-life living superhero friends take down the ‘evil adults’ in a somewhat poorly-developed manner, your rise to fame is quickly lost due to not only information manipulation but also because society simply got bored of you. Their collective attention has shifted to whatever’s trendy next.
The endgame is particularly jarring when the true nature of Mementos is revealed. It’s a giant prison, and the people behind bars are there because they want to be. The game’s final boss, Yabbadabbadoo or whatever his name is, is a god created by the slothful nature of society and the desire to conform. Ultimately, your song and dance routine of “Wake up, get up, get out there” has fallen upon deaf ears.
In the end, after defeating Yabba-whatever, what really has changed? Sure, at the climax of the fight, the people give you their unwavering support and you channel their power in a way akin to Dragon Ball. But afterwards, everyone has just packed up and gone home, gone back to their routine. Who’s to say another Yabba-whatever won’t come to be again?
That’s why to me, P5 is so bittersweet. After this giant adventure, nothing’s really changed, and there’s nothing you can do for change to occur. “Life Will Change” is nothing but a ruse, a lie you’ve been telling yourself.
In the words of P5 Royal’s song “No More What Ifs”,
“…I know I won’t change anything because I can only be me.”
«Blew my mind»
«Sit back and relax»
«OST on repeat»
Other reviews19
Had no idea what to expect going into this game but felt like I had very high expectations due to its reputation as one of the GOATs. And the gameplay was really surprising, in a good way - the turn-based combat was pretty satisfying (even though it was already beginning to wear a bit thin by the time I decided to stop playing) but it was the equal emphasis given to the "social sim" and time-management-as-gameplay elements that felt really intriguing and new to me. I enjoyed how anime it was, but also disappointed that it suffered from the same kind of one-note characterisation that many shounen animes fall foul of – I just didn't really connect to the silent protagonist or find any of the characters particularly compelling, apart from maybe Ann Takamaki, though maybe I would've felt different after playing for longer. That's the other thing - the critical path apparently takes 100hrs (!!) to complete, which immediately dissuaded me from continuing to play the game when I found out. That's just TOO long, especially given that so much of it felt like combat padding. One thing I really commend however is Persona's general UI aesthetic - it's just very cool and not like any other kind of menus I've ever come across.
Whoa, that's my first completed jRpg right there, the story was that gripping. Also the gameplay was sometimes really cool and overall it's a cool art exhibition that will definitely come to your liking.
im not playing royal fuck no im not paying for that no matter how good people tell me it is
«That ending!»
«OST on repeat»
Amazing story and the epitome of what a great JRPG should be while hitting all the best tropes of anime. Although this is high up on my recommendation, I would recommend playing Persona 5 Royal because it fixes any problem that Persona 5 had.