Persona 5 Review (SPOILER WARNING)

[RepentantSky]

Technically, I've already made this thread and I may even delete the other one, but I was bored and decided to write a more thorough review. Problem is, a lot of the places I could post it are either too child friendly and would cancel some words that I think are important to say, or they won't allow for posts with as many characters as my review had, so I'm posting it here. Let me know what you think.

 

Persona 5 is an interesting title to say the least. For starters it is the first in the series since Persona 2 to bring back the Shin Megami Tensei element of convincing monsters to join you by talking to them. This portion of gameplay is something that has been a part of the SMT universe since I can remember but I have to say, it's really downplayed here. In the most recent Shin Megami title to hit 3DS before Persona 5 came out, you could possibly die and get a game over if you chose badly enough when talking to an enemy, and it's not the first one to do it. Now while I won't say that's needed in every title that the element of converting enemies to allies in SMT games, I do think it should be worse than your opponents getting a free turn against you if you fail as the worst thing that happens. Also, in previous SMT games, there were multiple ways to make mistakes and lose an enemy conversion and in the same token, multiple ways to get them on your side. In Persona 5 there are multiple ways to fail, but for the most part, as long as you praise or give an enemy an ego boost, they'll join you, and it doesn't take long to figure that out. That's kind of a shame because it ruins one of the best elements of the game, giving your enemies a personality. If you just need to stroke their ego to get them, it feels like they aren't really their own character.

 

But enough about that, let's talk about the visual style of the game so things can be a bit more positive. For those who may not know, the visuals are astounding, and the PS4 helps them really pop and come to life. Never can I remember such a time where I actually almost looked forward to going into a menu just to see how much effort was put into it. It's a shame then that the one you see when you go to buy medical supplies is just kind of boring compared to the rest, but at the same time, that's really only one out of many and it's still better than most menu's I've ever seen. The menu's themselves are only a small part the visual skills Atlus shows off during this game though. Playing in the dungeons, whether it be a castle, an art museum or a pyramid, it looks incredible. Atlus has probably pulled off the most stylish game you can without it feeling cheap and it's clear that they put their hearts and souls into making every area unique while still matching the Gentlemen thief idea Persona 5 is clearly based off of. There's nothing really negative I can say about it, so let's move on to battles.

 

Battles themselves are sort of another problem the game has. For whatever reason combat feels some what floaty when impact is made. The style of it is clearly on level with the rest of the game, but I can't help but feel as though I'm not actually hitting anyone when an attack lands, at least enough of the time that it feels noticeable. This is particularly strange because Persona's 3 and 4, which were my starting points in the series, never seemed to have that problem, not even on their handheld versions. I don't know if it's because they were attempting to mirror some Sly Cooper in there, which also sometimes felt floaty when you hit something, which I suppose might be a stereotype of gentlemen thief games, but it's just not a good idea. Just because thief's like that are expected to be sneaky, doesn't mean that what they do needs to lack impact. Despite this issue constantly coming up, I honestly do enjoy combat, but if I didn't have this complaint, it would honestly be a lot better. I want attacks to feel like they hurt so that I feel stronger. Numbers dropping and raising is nice, but if it ever becomes hard to believe the numbers I'm seeing, which in Persona 5 it does, it'll take longer for me to feel strong, and I'm not a fan of that.

 

The music in the game was kind of a mixed bag for me at first, even after first completing the game, I wasn't quite sure if I liked it enough that I'd listen to it outside of playing the game, but by the time the dancing game for Persona 5 was announced, I was all in. There's something to say about music that grows on you over time as opposed to being something you instantly want to jam out to, but I can't say one way is better than the other. Persona 4's music was largely an instant jam for me, and I don't really know if I can say which is better. Although I have to admit there are two or three songs that I jammed out to right away like the intro music and the casino music from the start of the game. Either way, the music is really fitting when you back and listen to it, and there's something to be said about making a pop sort of jam fit into an Egyptian sort of setting. All I know is, is that I can't wait to hear some of the remixes coming for next year's dance game.

 

The story of the game is also completely amazing, but I don't know that I'd consider it the best that Persona has ever had. There's something to be said about the idea of stopping actual criminals from committing anymore crimes by having them admit to what they've done and turning themselves in, but at the same time, I feel like the game lost sight of that at some point. I mean why go from a guy like Kamoshida who physically and sexually assaults his victims, which gives you ample reason to hate him, then go a guy like Madarame who gives you reason to hate him for allowing so Yusuke's mother to die, to lying to him, to doing nothing while one his students committed suicide, all good reasons to hate him, to going after someone who isn't paying his employees right. Sure, the guy only sees his employees as ways to make money, and the fate Haru's unwanted marriage is at stake, but that does seem like quite the downgrade in stakes. Even at the start when you are at risk of being suspended and therefore risking going to jail, is just a small part of what you're trying to stop or why you're trying to stop it. Don't get me wrong, it's interesting to give the character you play as stakes at the start to increase incentive, but after the implied rape and intended suicide with Shiho in the early part of the game, do you really need that? In previous Persona's, and I hope you'll excuse me for constantly going back to them, but in previous Persona titles, the consequences always felt real, and serious. In Persona 3, the Midnight Hour is turning people into zombies and there's no promise that you can save them, in Persona 4, you are simply trying to stop successful and attempted murder and the twists at the end are great payoffs for your effort in getting far enough to see them, and great incentives you keep you going. Building and building upon what you know and making it seem worse without dropping tons of hints along the way is what made previous Persona titles, even 1 and 2 work so well. By adding in a new villain every chapter, you limit what they can do, and it's hard argue that any of them are get better after the first two, and even the second one is a slight downgrade from the first. Also, as an adult, I do find it annoying that there's this whole anti adult vibe going throughout. Persona is an older franchise, based off of an even older one, and while Atlus may not be as popular as Square, there's no way there haven't been fans since the early going here, who have grown up with the series. The anti adults vibes are kind of discouraging as adult, to the point where I wonder if that's how kids see all adults. The overarching story, the one that really starts from the beginning of the game until the end is amazing, and in fact the ending itself is one of my favorite RPG endings ever, but some of the in between bits are just not welcome.

 

Overall, I think Persona 5 is a great game, but also I think it tried to downplay certain elements of previous titles in the SMT universe and it does have a few other issues worth noting. It's also the first main series Persona game I can think of that I didn't see as better than the previous title. If I were to score it though, it's still pretty high, a 4.5/5 for sure, and it's probably a perfect 5 for anyone who has never played a previous Persona title to compare it to. If you're going to be introduced to Persona, this is the game to do it with, but has someone who as played all the previous Persona titles and several SMT games in general, I just think it's lacking a bit compared to previous entries that I might give a perfect score.

Edited September 18, 2017 by Guest