Late to the party but enjoying Persona 5

[Jedi]

Since i've finally had the chance to play some Persona 5.

I thought i'd give some of my thoughts. It's gripped me much faster than any previous Persona game i've played and i've played 1, 3, 4. (4 being my least favorite of those, and I still need to play 2 sometime). I'm currently on the 3rd palace with some decently good social ranks already. 

I think the characters i've met so far are really greatly written and generally the game has a rebellious and yet homey feel to it, I feel very comfortable when playing the more social aspects, and of course the more dungeon crawling aspects I find rad as hell considering it actually makes use of the whole "You're mystical thieves" deal. It also has actual dungeons, a massive weakness i've noticed in JRPGs of late, Tales of Berseria and the Trails of Cold Steel subset of the Trails/Kiseki games suffer from this in particular where the dungeons are just incredibly simple and only serve as a means to get encounters. (And I say this as a hardcore Kiseki/Trails fanboy). 

The battle system is as rewarding as ever, although I do miss how much you could brutalize your opponents with smirks in SMT4/4:A (even if it was a flawed mechanic in the former).  I also really like the style of this game, its very flashy and over the top and I love that kind of stuff. 

Not sure who I like the most yet since this games cast is super likable, and I haven't met everyone yet.

[Slumber]

Persona 5 picks up a bit faster than 3 and 4. Doesn't waste much time in tossing you into your first dungeon. It stays really strong for a long time, too. It lulls a bit nearing the end, but finishes very strong, IMO.

It's probably my GotY, even with competition like Zelda and Mario being REAL strong. And I'm not even a weeaboo(I tell myself)!

Edited December 1, 2017 by Slumber

[Jedi]

2 hours ago, Slumber said:

Persona 5 picks up a bit faster than 3 and 4. Doesn't waste much time in tossing you into your first dungeon. It stays really strong for a long time, too. It lulls a bit nearing the end, but finishes very strong, IMO.

It's probably my GotY, even with competition like Zelda and Mario being REAL strong. And I'm not even a weeaboo(I tell myself)!

It'll have to get my emotions running high for it to beat my personal Games of the year so far (those being Trails in the Sky the Third and Sonic Mania, but it's certainly up there so far).

[Slumber]

Just now, Jedi said:

It'll have to get my emotions running high for it to beat my personal Games of the year so far (those being Trails in the Sky the Third and Sonic Mania, but it's certainly up there so far).

That's the main reason it's above Mario and Zelda, honestly. As grand and immersive as Zelda is, and as fun and colorful as Mario is, they didn't really tug at my heartstrings(Though the finale to New Donk City definitely got close) like Persona 5 did.

[Caster]

When did you even finish P4, I thought you stopped playing it forever :P

This is probably my favorite Persona game. It's nice aesthetically and even though I have issues with the plot the atmosphere and characters are fantastic. 
Love this game.

[Jedi]

2 hours ago, Slumber said:

That's the main reason it's above Mario and Zelda, honestly. As grand and immersive as Zelda is, and as fun and colorful as Mario is, they didn't really tug at my heartstrings(Though the finale to New Donk City definitely got close) like Persona 5 did.

Trails 3rd tugged my heartstrings and I've been invested in two previous games for those characters and Sonic Mania was just such a well made letter of nostalgic love it stuck a nice cord haha.

Persona 5 has those nice punches already though I must say, every time I've gotten to a palace I get super motivated to bring the person to justice and it feels really good.

[Slumber]

3 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Trails 3rd tugged my heartstrings and I've been invested in two previous games for those characters and Sonic Mania was just such a well made letter of nostalgic love it stuck a nice cord haha.

Persona 5 has those nice punches already though I must say, every time I've gotten to a palace I get super motivated to bring the person to justice and it feels really good.

Still haven't gotten around to Trails in the Sky 3rd. But from what I've gathered, it's more of a "What are they up to now" kind of game than it is "This is an immediate sequel to SC and is going to wrap up an ongoing arc". As such, I have a hard time imagining that I'll enjoy it more than SC, which I really, really enjoyed, but couldn't see it as my GotY for whatever year you'd want to count that as.

[Retyl]

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Edited September 6, 2018 by Retyl

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Just in time for the GOTY discussions. 

Persona 5 represents the best of the previous two games while carving out its own thematic identity. My favorite addition is the Baton Pass mechanic. My least favorite aspect of the game is how badly the game ends for certain players. To avoid spoilers, all I'll say is depending on how much you procrastinate on a primary and secondary objective, you can find yourself doing four feature length dungeons back to back to back to end off the game with no free time to spend between any of them. Brutal. A clean example of how not to end a JRPG that lacks a post game such as the Persona series.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Glennstavos

[Jedi]

3 hours ago, Slumber said:

Still haven't gotten around to Trails in the Sky 3rd. But from what I've gathered, it's more of a "What are they up to now" kind of game than it is "This is an immediate sequel to SC and is going to wrap up an ongoing arc". As such, I have a hard time imagining that I'll enjoy it more than SC, which I really, really enjoyed, but couldn't see it as my GotY for whatever year you'd want to count that as.

I just really like the exchanges and Kevin's stuff a lot haha. It's more of a Gaiden for sure and it sets some stuff up for Zero/AO and CS along the way.

34 minutes ago, Retyl said:

The Phantom Thieves are fine characters but the fact that the palaces focus on the bad guys this time as opposed to how Persona 4 had party members with dungeons leads to the Phantom Thieves being underdeveloped. Well, except for one of them. You'll know who.

I also thought that Persona 5's social links...er..confidants were weaker overall. I can elaborate on this when you're done with the game because, you know, spoilers.

The randomly generated hallways in 3 and 4 were my biggest problems with those games. 5's are a lot more fun since they have actual designs. Two of them drag on but the rest are pretty good!
But yeah. Despite its flaws, 5 is easily the best installment in the series. Also dat UI.

I wasn't particularly fond of a number of 4's characters and 3's latter characters felt rather forced to me. But opinions, I just feel much more of a connection with the P5 cast then those 2 thus far.

[Ciarre]

P5 actually had my favorite social links/confidants out of the whole series. I love how it integrated the bonds with the gameplay and I found myself actually caring about their problems. In P3/4 tho? I didn't care about half of the social links lol (P3P felt a lot better to me, especially since you could SLink your teammates and that felt more relevant)

Also, the streamlined gameplay is SO NICE and I didn't find it a chore to sneak behind enemies and attack. It's easily my favorite persona, even though 3 has a special place in my heart. 

[Jedi]

4 hours ago, Ciarre said:

P5 actually had my favorite social links/confidants out of the whole series. I love how it integrated the bonds with the gameplay and I found myself actually caring about their problems. In P3/4 tho? I didn't care about half of the social links lol (P3P felt a lot better to me, especially since you could SLink your teammates and that felt more relevant)

Also, the streamlined gameplay is SO NICE and I didn't find it a chore to sneak behind enemies and attack. It's easily my favorite persona, even though 3 has a special place in my heart. 

I've just started Temperance & Fortune I'm quite curious to see where they go.

[Nobody]

6 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

To avoid spoilers, all I'll say is depending on how much you procrastinate on a primary and secondary objective, you can find yourself doing four feature length dungeons back to back to back to end off the game with no free time to spend between any of them. Brutal. A clean example of how not to end a JRPG that lacks a post game such as the Persona series.

Can you post you're talking about in spoiler tags? Because I've beaten the game and I'm sort of lost on what you mean.

I can only think of Momentos and the final dungeon. What are the other two?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

1 hour ago, Nobody said:

Can you post you're talking about in spoiler tags? Because I've beaten the game and I'm sort of lost on what you mean.

 

  Hide contents

I can only think of Momentos and the final dungeon. What are the other two?

Spoiler

I refer to the four dungeons starting with Shido's Palace. If you procrastinate to the deadline, then you are railroaded by story and exams to the final events of the game. Mementos is the "secondary objective". If you haven't been chipping away at it across the entire game, you'll have to do it now in order to reach Dungeon number 3, which is the Mementos Core. This is definitely a separate dungeon due to it not being procedurally generated and having its own mechanics. And finally, the penultimate dungeon taking place above the city. Thus, depending on how much the player procrastinates, they have to endure Four full-length Dungeons to end off their experience. That's definitely over 10 hours of cutscenes and dungeons in a game that promises player choice in how to spend their time. And even if you didn't procrastinate, the game takes way too damned long to end with just Mementos core and the final dungeon to complete.

And to think Mementos + Mementos Core + the final dungeon are all just one in-game day. The ending should have dispersed itself across several days where you still have some precious free time to spend. For comparison, Persona 3 is just a two part ending that starts on a date warned to you well in advance. The rest of Tartarus, if you haven't been dilligent in exploring it, then the final floors of Tartarus that lead you to the final bosses. The only overlong aspect of Persona 3's ending is it's final boss that has an hour's worth of phases.

 

[Slumber]

Outside of one party member, I pretty much universally liked Persona's 5 main cast.

Compare to 3, where I really only actually LIKE maybe just Akihiko. And Koromaru, because what kind of monster doesn't like a good dog?

And Persona 4's cast, I liked a whole lot, but was still mostly lukewarm on Yusuke, Yukiko and Rise. Teddie has his ups and downs, too.

Morgana, on the other hand, is a much, much, MUCH better mascot character. He still felt a little full of himself at times, but he was much more rounded than Teddie.

[Jedi]

46 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Outside of one party member, I pretty much universally liked Persona's 5 main cast.

Compare to 3, where I really only actually LIKE maybe just Akihiko. And Koromaru, because what kind of monster doesn't like a good dog?

And Persona 4's cast, I liked a whole lot, but was still mostly lukewarm on Yusuke, Yukiko and Rise. Teddie has his ups and downs, too.

Morgana, on the other hand, is a much, much, MUCH better mascot character. He still felt a little full of himself at times, but he was much more rounded than Teddie.

Unfortunately i'm not particularly fond of Morgana but I do laugh at some of his moments, I just really dislike his treatment of Ryuji in particular.

But I can see what you mean for sure.

[Slumber]

9 minutes ago, Jedi said:

Unfortunately i'm not particularly fond of Morgana but I do laugh at some of his moments, I just really dislike his treatment of Ryuji in particular.

But I can see what you mean for sure.

There's a big part of Morgana's character arc that kind of explains/brings attention to why he's a bit of a dick(Though really just to Ryuji).

I can't spoil too much, but the arc leads to why I don't like one of the characters, though.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Slumber

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I started to play P5 this week because it was finally on sale. I'm still doing the first dungeon because of lacking on time.

I only go for the battles since I haven't unlocked everyone yet and don't know the characters I have so far too well.

First the introduction was thankfully shorter than P4's which was more or less popcorn for the first four hours. The dungeons offer more than Tartarus and the TV did by having little puzzles.

I still have to get used on the controls. I haven't got into the hide and seek controls and third eye yet.

The demon recruitment is like SMT's unfortunately. A failed negoation can screw me. Furthermore card shuffle was a fun minigame. It's too bad that it was removed.

The graphics look retro like in 30s or 40s. Same goes for the music. The battle theme is nice, but doesn't have as a earworm quality as P3's.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite Persona game since I really enjoyed 3, but it's definitely more enjoyable in the beginning than 4.

Also I find Mogarna incredibly adorable and hundred times better than the unbearable bear from 4. I hope he won't show his potential true form...

Edited December 2, 2017 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Jedi]

10 hours ago, Slumber said:

There's a big part of Morgana's character arc that kind of explains/brings attention to why he's a bit of a dick(Though really just to Ryuji).

I can't spoil too much, but the arc leads to why I don't like one of the characters, though.

I'll be on the lookout for it, guessing its quite a bit later. 

9 hours ago, Mister IceTeaPeach said:

The demon recruitment is like SMT's unfortunately. A failed negoation can screw me. Furthermore card shuffle was a fun minigame. It's too bad that it was removed.

It's far more forgiving than any SMT games negations though, since you have to appeal to the demons personality instead of random demands or needing a stat for good negation.

[Sentacotus]

I got it last week at bestbuy for 30 bucks seems like a fun game I'm just trying to find the time to play it.

 

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Beaten fifth dungeon and played 60h already. No end in sight! Will become the longest videogame for sure.

The main reason why I'm so slow is that I have been stuck in dungeons several times because either I didn't understand the puzzle gimmick (last part of the space dungeon), or I didn't use third eye enough so I missed jump passages. Tbf I don't like third eye simply because I feel uncomfortable to move with the stick and hold L1 the entire time. Therefore the dungeons are gimmicky which I haven't really seen in former parts of this series. It's a game what is worth each cent. Easily my favorite game from 2017, even if it's only the second game from this year I've played yet after FE15.

Edited December 17, 2017 by Mister IceTeaPeach