In 1986, a small company in Japan known as Atlus was found and during their years as a game company they published many memorable JRPGs, some of them were even considered ahead of their time. They started off with the Shin Megami Tensei series in 1987, a franchise with critical praise by many and would later influence another one of Atlus’ hit series. Originally intended to be a spin off of their main flag franchise, Persona debuted in 1996, both in Japan and America, and at the time the game was considered groundbreaking focusing on ideas and themes that most games wouldn’t look towards during that set age. However times changed and people began to realize the many flaws that Persona had, but it didn’t mean it was a bad game however. For the next few years Atlus would focus on producing sequels for their new hit franchise, trying to improve upon each previous release and making sure each title had as much love and attention they could put into them. However each game was originally developed in Japan, so it would take time for them to bring each game over to America.
When the public got their hands on the next few titles in the franchise they were hooked. Persona 2 expanded upon what the first game did, Persona 3 was considered the best RPG at it’s time of release, and Persona 4 took it a step further and became one of the best titles in the series. Atlus was truly doing something magical, bringing joy to countless players and emotion that even made gamers tear up at times. When it came for the next title in the series things went kinda off, as it would take Atlus double the amount of time to produce their next latest hit. If Persona 4 was amazing they wanted Persona 5 to be a masterpiece, so they spent countless years perfecting each part of the game making sure each idea worked and was carried out properly. Finally in 2016 in Japan (remember the games usually released in Japan first), they finally released Persona 5 exclusive to Playstation consoles. If the Japanese were praising Persona 5 as a god sent message, you would expect what the western audience was thinking. The answer was the same god damn response. Persona 5 became one of the best titles during 2017 when it finally released here in America, garnishing attention from around the clock, selling more than one million copies, and winning countless awards cause you know: critical praise am I right.
Now flash over to me, I started getting into gaming around 2017 trying to catch up on whatever I missed in the past few years while still trying to keep up with modern releases. I’m just gonna tell you one thing, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’m not sure how to type a proper review, how to professionally criticize a game, realize the actual pros and cons, and type down what matters. I don’t even read over what I type, which is dumb because you probably noticed a few grammar errors by now if you read my content. I usually type these reviews for fun, trying to express my opinions with others while also having a great time. Most of the titles I choose to play I usually look up before buying them, and half the time they're the same category or I don’t have a negative opinion on them. I want to be happy, I don’t want to buy a game and immediately regret buying it after ten hours of playtime. So I stuck to the top of the crop, playing both Triple A and countless indie titles. It didn’t matter who they were made by and what the developers actions were, I ignored the downsides and kept on playing. One genre I’m not familiar with are RPGs, specifically JRPGs with turn based combat and complex stories that require a journal to memorize everything. You could say Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are a few RPGs I played, but they felt more open worldish games with light RPG elements. I don’t know if the Mario & Luigi RPG series is considered a JRPG, and Dark Souls is…..well, Dark Souls.
The first JRPG I ever laid my hands on was Octopath Traveler, I was preparing for my first year of high school and my mother wanted to buy me a game before the real challenge began. While Octopath wasn’t the biggest hit on the block I still wanted to try it out, it became one of my most favorite games that year and even one of my most favorite games of all time. For the amount of hours I clocked into the game, Octopath was one of the games that helped me push through 9 months of dealing with idiots. Ever since then I’ve been craving for another game similar to this golden gem of a title, and luckily a few people at school were telling me of a game called Persona 5.
I wasn’t really that interested in it, I actually had a few doubts with the game before I even picked it up. Few months later after owning a PS4 for quite sometime I decided to say: f*ck it, let’s try something new. So I picked up Persona 5, and after the first ten hours my expectations were blown away. Persona 5 is one of the best games I have played in recent years, and I’m slowly beginning to understand why this game deserved all this praise. Everything seemed to work in Persona 5, and while there were a few flaws I still had a great time with the game. I played it from beginning to end, and now that I’m finally done with the game I can talk to you all about. Now that this long intro is out of the way, it’s now time to talk about why I loved Persona 5 and why it deserves your attention. So prep up the navs, and let’s get ready to steal some people’s hearts.
Story
Warning: I am about to spoil the first few hours of the game, so if you want to figure out what happens yourself, then go buy it. However I’m doing this so you can understand what the overall plot is, and get caught up on what is happening. So without further ado, let's a go. (Get it? Because the main character is in Smash, and that’s when people started figuring out about Persona 5. You know what this joke doesn't make sense)
The Phantom Thieves, a group of mischiefs, or what some may think. Known by many across Japan, the Phantom Thieves are known for stealing people’s desires and leaving without a trace of evidence behind. However during their latest operation the main character who is the leader of the gang gets caught by the police and is sent in for interrogation. He gets the crap beaten out of him, until finally a prosecutor, Sae Nijima, shows up to interview him and figure out the truth. She’s been researching the case behind the Phantom Thieves for months now, and with their leader in her sight she can finally figure out the truth behind the gang. She asks our main protagonist to flash back towards the beginning and where it all started, and just like that we flashback to his first day arriving in Tokyo. Being falsely charged for assault, the main protagonist is sent to Tokyo for a year to spend the rest of his days learning and knowing that people forever look towards him as a criminal. He moves into the attic of Cafe Leblanc runned by Sojiro Sakura, his caretaker while he is in Tokyo. He goes to sleep, and wakes up in a mysterious place known as the Velvet Room. There he meets Igor and his two wardens Caroline and Justine. Igor makes a deal with the main protagonist, stating to him the world is unfair and it must be brought back together under his hands.
The main protagonist wakes up, Sojiro takes him to school, and becomes friends with an athlete named Ryuji Sakamoto. They both walk to school together until something weird happens, they find themselves in front of a mysterious castle, they get captured, and find that the gym teacher, Suguru Kamoshida, is presumably the head of the castle. Ryuji about to get beheaded is then saved by the main character, who unlocks a strange entity known as a Persona, specifically the main characters Persona is named Arsene. The main character uses arsene to defeat the guards, Ryuji and him escape, and a few minutes later they meet a cat named Morgana. (Who can talk, what’s not strange about a talking cat, especially in a JRPG) Morgana explains to them that they're inside Kamoshida’s palace, where his greatest desires lie. Kamoshida is not only abusing his students, but is also a pedophile, and that tells you something doesn't it kids. (This game is M rated for a reason you know) Anyways with the help of Morgana, the main character escapes, Ryuji unlocks his Persona, named Captain Kidd, they blast their way out, and make a run for it. Realizing that Kamoshida’s actions can’t be further carried out, the three of them plan to invade his palace and steal his treasure, otherwise what's causing his desires to hurt others. More kids get abused, a girl named Shido jumps off the school roof, and eventually a girl named Ann Takamaki joins the gang to claim revenge for her injured friend Shido. Together the four of them form the Phantom Thieves, and after sending their first calling card they steal Kamoshida’s treasure, he submits to his crimes, and all is well at school.
You know what I forgot to mention how they have codenames, and I’m getting really tired saying the main character, so might as well list them. Morgana is Morgana, Ann is Panther, Ryuji is Skull, and Mr. Main Protagonist right here is Joker, who we are going to call for the rest of this review because it is simpler. Joker, realizing the powers they have and how many people they can help out, plans to continue their duty as the Phantom Thieves and restore balance to Tokyo. They’ll make many friends along the way, some will even become members of Phantom Thieves, but it’ll all be worth it, once they steal crooked people’s hearts. But the media is catching up on their fame, and they’ll soon realize everything will take a sharp turn for them, eventually.
Gameplay
There are at least two main aspects of the game I'll be focusing on in this section, segments that you spend in the real world and segments you spend in the Metaverse. In the Metaverse you spend your time exploring areas littered with enemies, treasures, and objectives to complete. Each mission focuses on getting to a specific location, and taking down targets. When you get into a fight however things change, as all JRPGs do. You and the enemy take turns attacking each other until one of you wins the battle. If you and all your allies fall during battle it’s game over, forcing you back to your previous checkpoint unless it’s a boss. At checkpoints you can check up on party members and save your game, and save often because you don’t know what will be lying ahead.
Anyways about combat, when it’s your time to attack you must choose carefully. Should you focus on physically damaging the enemy with your melee weapons, risking your gun ammo to stun them, guarding just in case they're about to unleash a powerful attack, or using one of your Personas many abilities. Each character has a Persona, each with different abilities that you unlock over time. Abilities include stat buffs to your party member, debuffs towards the enemy, healing, different ways to physically damage the enemy, and elemental attacks. By using the right elemental attack on an enemy you can weaken them, leaving them stunned for a short amount of time. Weaken all the enemies during battle and you have the chance to force something out of them. You can ask them for money, items, and more, as long as you pass certain speech checks. Then you can ask them to lend you their power, because if it’s one special ability Joker has, it’s to carry multiple Personas at once. This means he has the most abilities amongst his team, choosing the right Personas with the right abilities can help out during dangerous situations. Stronger personas have more power, and if you visit the Velvet Room I mentioned earlier you can fuse two Personas together to make stronger ones. Now you're probably thinking, is this Pokemon? No, it’s better than that.
Anyways now that the combat is out of the way, let's talk about what you can do during your daily lifestyle. Each day you spend it going to school, doing something afterwards, doing something during the evening, and eventually going back home. Days will pass and you must manage your time wisely. You can also spend time with your friends allowing you to get to know them and increase their stats, going to the shops to buy more equipment, working at your job, or doing fun activities. All of these can increase on out of five social stats; Charm, Knowledge, Proficiency, Guts, and Kindness. Putting more points into them makes them increase overtime, and by ranking them up they can help you during certain occasions. Specifically with friends, because your friends almost need you for everything in this game. So half the game is an RPG, and the other half is a life simulator, anything else? Yes, surprisingly.
After a certain amount of time and progressing through the story you will be tasked to invade someone's palace, secure a route to their treasure, and steal it. You have a certain amount of days to do all this, and once the timer is up, it’s game over, again. So like I said earlier, manage it. You can either spend your days doing social things like social people, or use it to invade the palace which is what you should be doing. Throughout the palace there will be several puzzles and enemies lurking about. Plus there is an awareness meter, which increases when enemies spot you. Once the meter is full you’ll be kicked out of the palace, and have to continue it the next day. Best strategy is to either ambush enemies so you can clear out areas, or sneaking past them since there is apparently a stealth system in this game. Once you secure a route to the treasure, you can send a calling card. By sending a calling card you fight a boss the next day, usually the ruler of the palace, so come prepared.
Now are we done? Are we done explaining the gameplay part, because this is probably the longest review I have ever written. Lately I have learned how to improve my work unlike the past. Put as much explanation as possible, while putting in my personal opinions. But anyways, with your unique set of skills and friends on your side, you should be able to save humanity from it’s downfall.
Thoughts
Persona 5 is good, that’s all I need to say. Like I said earlier everything this game sets out to do is executed perfectly. The soundtrack was well composed by Shoji Meguro, the combat is fluid and easy to understand, characters are well written each with unique personalities that help define who they are, there is a butt load of things to do, and it’s worth sitting through the 70-90 hours of experience. Persona 5 handles a lot of topics that most games don’t cover, and I mean a lot. Learning from your past mistakes, handling abuse, learning the truth about those you care about, dealing with life stress, death of others close to you, anxiety, etc. But my most favorite lesson was the one at the end of it all. Learning how to choose for yourself, help out those around you, working together to form a structural society. You don’t have to give up your freedom of choice and hope that some god or leader will guide you towards the right direction, you just have to decide your own world and what will happen next.
Well I just spent an entire review complementing everything Persona 5 does, now let’s look at it’s flaws and what prevented it from receiving a perfect ten from me. To make things easier for myself I decided to talk to you about the difference between Persona 5 and my previous favorite JRPG Octopath Traveler. I know that's not the fairest thing to do, but is to show you what elements Persona 5 succeed at in gameplay and don't succeed in. Plus I get to talk more about one of my favorite games.
Octopath Traveler has a lot of grinding because you have to level up each character individually making character progression tedious, but Persona 5 allows character progression to be much smoother by having your entire team leveling up together. When your team leader dies in Octopath you can continue the fight without them, but once your team leader dies in Persona the fight ends and you have to start all over. Later in Octopath Traveler after completing the team leader’s story you can swap out their place for another character, however in Persona you can’t swap Joker out for somebody else. Octopath Traveler may be made up mostly of pixel graphics, but it's world is shiny and made use of the Unreal Engine. Persona has colorful comic book-like graphics that popped out to the player, but some textures felt kinda off. For positive similarities between the games they both had well orchestrated music, good character designs, good world design, good storytelling, and good combat. However combat in Octopath Traveler is more well put together because like a game of chess making the wrong move may put you at a disadvantage, so you had to make each turn count. Meanwhile Persona 5's combat is lacking and doesn't do anything new mechanically, but it still felt very satisfying thanks to the stylish animation.
Persona’s plot does stand above a majority of other JRPG plotlines out there, but some plot points may not add up. Plus while I do like each character's personality there were times where I hated them as a person and wondered if they had significance besides driving the plot forward. So with enough nagging and stalling, what’s the overall score? I would say a 9/10 for excellence at best. While Persona 5 may take some time to understand it brings you a wonderful adventure full of character and depth. It’s worth the money and time, and since it’s incredibly cheap these days I would like to say to go out and buy it right now. I am incredibly excited for The Royal expansion to come out, since it looks like it’ll add a lot of content to the game, maybe improve some of the base game’s problems, and explain some unanswered questions. As for now, goodbye.
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