#very forgettable. not much done wrong but not much done right either. solid 5/10.

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

going through my dream daddy saves and when i first played i did the routes in order of which i thought would be my least to most favorite

[krissucanwrite]

Persona 5 is  a beautiful game with a lot of flaws.

This review of Persona 5 might contain spoilers for the game.

Have you ever been excited for the release of a game? What if that game was the next in a series that contained your favourite game of all time? What if that game got released in Japan almost a year before you had your hands on it? Would your excitement for it die? Or would that just make you more excited?

This was Persona 5 for me.

Persona 4 Golden is my favourite game of all time. To me, it’s perfect in every way. The characters are lovable, the story is fantastic, the music is stellar, and the setting was quaint. It felt like I was returning to a familiar town that I’d been to before. The characters became best friends that I looked forward to seeing each day. There was a true sense of excitement every time a new day rolled over. “Who should I social link with today? What adventures are we going to have? Where will we end up?”

Needless to say, Persona 5 had some big shoes to fill.

First, I’ll talk about everything I love about the game. The visuals are STUNNING. Because they’re so stylised, I’m willing to be they’ll hold up really well in the future. The contrast of reds and blacks and the way colour is used is brilliant. All the in game models, save for one, look flawless. The only model I have an issue with is Ryuji’s, and it’s simply because his eyes look too far apart. One out of dozens is not bad though, and overall, this game has the strongest visuals of any game I’ve ever played.

The soundtrack is pretty solid. Most of the music fits the situations you’re in. My favourite track is the one that plays during exams. Such intense music is really fitting since, even in the world of Persona, exams are a huge deal. I also love “The Days When My Mother Was There” and “Layer Cake.” These three tracks in particular really stood out to me. 

Speaking of Palaces, one of them was really well done. Futabas Palace. It connected with me so hard that once I was done the Palace, I cried harder than I ever have. It’s all about helping a little girl who’s trapped in her own mind. She can’t escape. She’s blaming herself for the death of her mother, and she doesn’t understand how to deal with what she’s feeling. This palace was constructed flawlessly. Every aspect of it was perfect, from the fact she saw it as a tomb to the music to the desert atmosphere. It’s probably my favourite dungeon in all of Persona.

Most of the characters are great, and even though I don’t think they’re as deep as the cast from Persona 4, they still work for the story. I think that the main cast, for the most part, is weaker than the Persona 4 crew, but the side social links were executed better. For example, I really loved Hifumi, the shogi player, and her social link. It was memorable, Hifumi had a great design, and her personality was unique. I also loved Tae, the doctor, and her social link. Even Sojiro ended up having a fantastic social link, and his interactions with the player are great.

The game plays smoothly and I really love the ambush system. The animations for each party member are slightly different and unique, and I really like them all. They took the system in Persona 4, which worked really well, and polished it. Fighting was a joy. The only issue with game play I had was the camera not behaving in certain sections of some dungeons. The issues were few and far between though, and overall the game was a delight in terms of playability.

However, as with all things, there are some problems with Persona 5, and they really stand out to me.

First, let’s talk about the other Palaces. Even though Futaba had a fantastic Palace, I still think most of the dungeons in the game were boring, bland, forgettable, or downright frustrating. The first Palace you do is long, annoying, and visually uninteresting. Madarame’s dungeon is visually boring, and quite annoying because of the security lasers. It goes on like that, and I personally think that even though they hit a great high with Futabas palace and the themes they explore, it doesn’t quite hit the same high again. 

The worst offender, however, is Shido’s palace. This place takes the form of a ship, which is not terrible. It’s slightly boring inside, but not awful. What makes the dungeon awful is the mechanic they introduce. For almost every hallway you have to go through from one area to the next, you’ll pass by statues. These statues turn the party into rats.

No, I’m not joking.

When this happens, be prepared for 20 minutes of avoiding shadows (you can’t fight as a rat), going through air vents that aren’t really obviously placed for the player to find, and being annoyed because you know this isn’t the last time this mechanic is going to be used. There’s one section in particular where you literally leave one set of hallways only to enter ANOTHER set of hallways right after it that use this mechanic. It took me nearly an hour to get through this part. It’s terrible. There’s no other word for this mechanic, and I hate it.

Another huge problem I have with the game is that all the BIG TWISTS are telegraphed so easily. I remember being in that TV studio for the first time and having Akechi talk to me, talking about pancakes, and thinking “Huh, he must be in the metaverse too, so he’s gotta be the one behind the shutdowns.” Lo and behold, there he was. I remember thinking “Huh, they keep telegraphing how important the metaverse is, I bet it’s a really important dungeon later on.” That’s what happens. “Man they keep showing this bald dude, I bet he’s a boss later on. He’s totally super important.” Shido turns out to be one of the most important bosses.

I’m not saying you should NEVER telegraph your twists. In Persona 4, the twist is telegraphed, but in such a way that, unless you were REALLY paying attention, you wouldn’t pick up on it on your first play through. Everything about Persona 5 is so easily predicted, and that’s my problem. When the twists are revealed, they’re posed as big shockers, when in reality, I’d guessed them HOURS before.

Even though I think the OST was pretty darn good, after a while, a lot of the music felt kinda samey. It was still GOOD, but they all blend together in the end. There’s a lot of funk, a lot of songs with similar sounding vocals. A lot of the same, over and over again. Listening to the tracks on their own feels great. The music outside of the context of the game is a fantastic album. Playing for 10 hours and listening to the music back to back, though, makes everything melt together. Persona 4 didn’t have this problem. Each track stood on its own, outside of the game AND in the context of the game itself.

I think one of my biggest problems with the game, however, is the main cast of characters. Some of them are great. Futaba felt fresh and new and well developed. Yusuke was funny and entertaining and made me laugh consistently through my journey. Haru, though quite bland at times, was charming and the balance the team needed in terms of personality. However, others are quite disappointing.

Ann is very one dimensional and flat. She’s a one note character, and even though I do like her, she’s rather forgettable in my opinion. She doesn’t have the humour or charm that Yusuke has, so she ends up being flat and bland. A character I could see in any JRPG. That’s a little disappointing considering she was the first party member we meet.

Ryuji is loud, obnoxious, annoying, and stupid. I was constantly infuriated with how idiotic and moronic he was. His character didn’t change much throughout the story either, so he was annoying and stupid for over 100 hours of gameplay. I know some people think he’s funny, but the whole “HEY EVERYONE WE’RE THE PHANTOM THIEVES” bit really made me angry. At the end, I truly disliked him.

Another character that was very annoying was Morgana. The character himself wasn’t TOO bad. It was weird how badly he wanted Ann, and some of the phrases he used rubbed me the wrong way. (Like being highly possessive over Ann, using phrases that made it sound like she was HIS and like she was a prize to be won) The biggest problem with Morgana though was the fact he forces you to go to sleep SO. OFTEN. In Persona 4, every time you go to sleep, it’s YOUR decision to sleep. “I’m feeling tired today, I should go to bed.” To me, there’s a HUGE difference between that and “Hey don’t you feel tired????? You should sleep early tonight!” In a game about time management, where every second is important, it stressed me so bad whenever Morgana would force me to go to sleep.

So, after all that, what do I think of Persona 5? Well, it was very hard not to go into this game with high expectations. Persona 4 Golden is my favourite game of all time. I was hoping for a game that took everything that made Persona 4 great and amplified it. Did that happen? Yes and no. The gameplay is a step up from Persona 4. The visuals are STUNNING. The side characters have much better social links. I think, though, the game falls flat on its face in terms of main characters and story focus. The game dragged in a lot of places, and I honestly felt like it could have been a 75-hour game instead of a 100-hour game. When I put the controller down, I wasn’t jumping to come back and play. Instead, I was content to wait a day or two. It didn’t grab me nearly as much as I had hoped.

Is it my fault for going in with such high expectations? Should I have dampened what I wanted in the game, and gone in hoping for nothing? Who knows.

Everything said I did enjoy this game. In terms of JRPG’s, it’s actually pretty good. And I think if you’d never played another game in the Persona series, you’d really enjoy it! I don’t feel bad about the time I’ve spent with it, despite all the flaws the game has. It will be interesting to see how I feel on a New Game + run.

If you’re going in thinking this will be as good, or better, than Persona 4, you might be disappointed. It’s still worth your time, though. If you go in wanting some very pretty, well-executed game play with some awesome side characters, I think you’ll be able to enjoy it. If you want a diverse, deep cast of main characters with a fantastic main story, stick to Persona 4.