#don't include him in my analysis above for p5 antagonists

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Silly plays more Monark

Ok so like....without TOO MANY spoilers (gonna keep it vague as possible), got through the 2nd dungeon (well my 2nd dungeon, I think the game allows you to choose between 3 in any order but I’m not sure) which was the Envy dungeon. And.......I don’t think it’s perfect.....but Envy arc clears any of P5′s bosses except Kamoshida (cause Kamoshida is special), especially Strikers. And yeah there’s more in common with Monark and P5 than I realized, grant it I was getting used to Monark’s terminology in dungeon 1 (good god they dump it on you, wasn’t fun), and we were still getting introduced to concepts. I don’t know how much it has in common with SMT If (since they also do a deadly sin thing). But there is a good parallel between P5′s Change of Hearts, and Monark’s shattering of ideals. Other than that, gameplaywise AND character wise there’s nothing to compare imo. I like to call Nozomi “the better Makoto” (cause both are prez) or make parallels to Futaba with Chiyo and Kokoro (ones a little sister, the other is all knowing) but those are just me making silly connections, I’m not being serious.  

The character writing/prose is nowhere near the same. The gameplay is obvie different completely different. I might conflate Authority with Persona, Pactbearer with Persona user, Monark with a contract akin to the Nahobino, Yoru as fucked up Igor, to make it easier since only Persona likes to take the good route of keeping things simple stupid. Basically......Their general feel is different. But what is similar is interesting to parallel. I probs wouldn’t recommend Monark if someone liked P5 cause of those big differences, unless they were craving the moral questioning side that P5 left them craving on.   

ANYWAY, back to the boss, the reason I don’t compare it to Kamo is you are supposed to hate the very obvious villain Kamo. Kamo is simple and clean and straight forward. Envy is.......dark grey... it’s messy. It’s what striker’s tried to do but I think Monark did it better. I pity the villain, but he also needed to be stopped for obvious reasons. But it was a very messy situation and I really like it. 

Envy was twisted, but you can really understand why they were twisted. You can agree that yeah, it’s unfair. But your actions aren’t good. 

Ryotaro is probs the best counterpoint to Envy, cause while he is capable of pity/sympathy/empathy, he also marches to the beat of his own drum and isn’t a ashamed of it. He unabashedly goes by what he feels is right. Which can vary from situation to situation.

Which can be selfish, but it can be hypocritical. But so is the Envy boss. It’s messy, but in a thought provoking way (not in a poorly written way). And that is WAY more than what P5 could ever deliver for me. 

I’m about to start the Wrath dungeon (I’ve seen whispers that some people side with Wrath so that’ll be interesting). But I’ll be fine if Monark peaked with Envy. It already peaked better than P5 in this case. Ok I’m actually half way through Wrath since I wrote that (so far still like Envy more buuuut....). Omg, yeah they do make this one grey too because like.......the victims are STILL assholes. It’s hard not to root for Wrath. “Like I know killing people is wrong buuuuuuuuuut-” (there’s also the benefit of them like...not being real that helps). Imo Wrath is a better Alice from P5S. Wrath I do feel bad for, and pity (ironically something they hate), Alice I feel skeeved out because she reminds me more of Kamo but with the game trying to make me feel bad for her and absolve her. “but Silly! They are different sins!” yeah well, both have a similar backstory. Both have similar motives. One just makes sense (revenge against the actual abusers), and one is being used as a means to manipulate us into feeling bad (aka Alice went BEYOND her abusers in some mental Olympic gymnastics I can’t fathom and we don’t really get to go into). 

Monark’s sloth is more interesting than Strikers (I mean he’s dead). Mementos tho.....hm, we’ll see where Monark’s sloth goes. Might not be comparable, since Sloth is..... they might have gotten it because of how people perceive them. Or they are a bit slothful. Or both. It’s interesting. 

Gluttony is bae, love them. I hope they get to shine more, and see their sinful side in action too (along with sloth). 

Monark does better than P5 in the fact of Moral questions being raised. There is inherently a moral question raised by forcibly “changing a heart” P5 doesn’t like to dive into. Monark, so far is doing a better job at that. And they don’t change their Palace owner’s hearts, they destroy them bit by bit. And at least acknowledge that this probably means they aren’t the same person they were before that did that. Aka they acknowledge the sense of self. 

tldr; Monark does better with fleshing out the Antagonists, one as someone I actually want to defeat because stakes (something only Kamo made me want to do in P5, both thanks to how NPCs are utilized), and as gray villains (when they want them gray, which I blanked on Pride but I don’t think he was grey) because the situation is fairly grey and while you want to defeat them you kinda.....question your morals a bit while doing so (might depend on who is playing it how strongly you question them, but that’s more than what P5 did so~!).

I’ll still be happy if Monark peaked with Envy (Wrath is still good), both are doing more work than P5. 

One last thing before I jump back into the game. Vanitas the bunny is cute and I love him. I love how the localizers but a lot of effort into him too. He can be evil incarnate I don’t care, he’s baby.