Persona 5

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NuKaholic
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Persona 5

Post by NuKaholic »

Hey sorry if there is already a thread for Persona 5 but I couldn't find one. Anyone on the forum playing/have played? I only recently bought a PS4 Pro and Persona 5 is one of the only games I have for it. Never played any Persona games in the past but I did play and like Catherine. Really love it so far. Not saying it's anything groundbreaking but I love the style and jazzy atmosphere of this game. Any of the community love or dislike this game?
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Whippledip
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Re: Persona 5

Post by Whippledip »

I absolutely love this game. I only finished it for the first time late last week. Took me about 105 hours, although 5 of those were probably having it sit idle where I got locked in to some long talking sessions and had to do something else before I could save.

It was my first Persona/SMT game as well, in fact it was my first real JRPG really as I don't count Pokemon. I'm also not really a fan of turn-based systems either but something about this one just works for me, I think it's that they're relatively quick and the really kinetic feel of the menus makes it easy to play and fun to look at as well. I'm currently playing through SMT: Apocalypse but I'm struggling with it because I like Persona's lightness in tone compared to post-apocalypse stuff.

I picked it up because I'd heard it was so good but knew nothing about the game or the series at all, so I watched a few streams. Still confused as hell as to why there was a talking cat and humanoid things turned into a floating goatman sitting on a toilet, I stopped watching the streams but found myself with the Palace 4 song stuck in my head hours later and so I thought that's enough for me to give it a shot.

It has a few problems, mostly in tone and themes, but it's easy enough for me to overlook because they're relatively short lived. The most egregious example is the first palace with a teacher extorting sexual favours from their students, and it's gross and disgusting, but then Ann's reveal, who I might add is at the centre of all this stuff, dresses her up in a skin tight red latex catsuit with a boob window and she's constantly sticking her butt out in these strange poses that are purely for looks, and then later has the characters leer at her when she happens to dress down even the tiniest bit. Not to mention being able to actually date your teacher and your adopted sister (I didn't do this on my play through but I know the option is there.)

Also Yusuke's intro is creepy as hell, especially coming off that first palace.

One thing I really like is the visual style, but that it never really makes things hard to use or difficult to find. For something as crazy and busy looking as Persona 5's menus, they move quickly, they respond really quickly to button presses, all the information is easy to find and it's all laid out in a way that makes sense. It's pretty amazing that they managed to make something look like that without really sacrificing functionality.

And the music, oh my god the music. It's so good, basically the reason I gave the game a chance in the first place. Beneath the Mask is the best "overworld" music ever made and if I could get a walking simulator that was the suburbs of Tokyo in the Persona visual style with that song playing, I'd probably never ever stop.
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Combine Hunter
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Re: Persona 5

Post by Combine Hunter »

My opinion lines up with Whippledip. I loved the experience overall, but there are few sore spots that you've already talked about.

Just feels like the game wants to have its cake and eat it on the political side of things. It has some great commentary on culture and modern politics, but then goes ahead and engages in that iffy behaviour anyway. The lyrics for the opening song are such a call to arms for young people frustrated by the modern far right political movement. The main antagonist also works as a catch all for your far right leader of choice. The metaphorical imagery of a bunch of rich people living it up on a luxury cruise ship as the rest of the country literally crumbles into the ocean is so potent...and yet it doesn't land with the same impact that Wolfenstein 2's commentary does, because of its problematic indulgences.
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Re: Persona 5

Post by Sean »

I really need to sit down and force myself to play through this. I had to do the same thing with Persona 4 and that turned out to be a top-10 all timer for me. Maybe now that the big releases are done, I can go back and give this a proper chance.

I was just really turned off by the aggressive style of the game. I get that it's always been a stylish series, but, for the few hours I played, it was just a bit overboard for me.
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NuKaholic
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Re: Persona 5

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I took the themes to be more anti authority and anti government in general more so than against one political faction. There is a lot of distaste for police, politicians, teachers, and government employee's. I'm sure the writers have their political bias's but it's restrained as far as I can see. I'm also not a big jrpg guy. Not to say that I don't like them but it's not a genre I've spent a lot of time in and honestly I'm not big into the turn based combat but this game just really works for me on most levels. I just love the vibe and tone of the game and the anti authority stuff is something I'm into. Also I'm a huge fan of jazz recently and just every track in this game is killer. As far as the sexual harassment stuff in the first palace, it is upsetting but that's all to serve your resolve to stop kamoshida right? I mean it is gross but I think that's kind of the point. Now as far as an underage kid dating his teachers and or an adopted sibling...well I haven't gotten to any of that yet but I've heard about that from others as well. Think I'll just stay single and keep that as head cannon haha. I know it's been out for at least a year now but I'm glad there are still people who want to talk about this game. It's kind of rocking my world right now. Just finished kamoshida's palace and formed the phantom thieves. Gotta say the conclusion to that stuff was pretty impactful and satisfying to me. I hope the other targets have as involved a storyline.
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Re: Persona 5

Post by Joshihatsumitsu »

Absolutely love Persona 5, flaws and all! I managed to finish it prior to my third trip back to Japan, and while I was there I just had to try the whole curry/coffee combination. I totally get why those two flavours go together now!

Putting aside in game issues, I'm a little more concerned about the direction the series could take. And I'm talking specifically about DLC.

The DLC for 5 doesn't really bother me, because it's really just superficial things like outfits that don't effect the gameplay. But I can't help but think what future games in the series might bring. This is totally just speculation, as such a game does not currently actually exist, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. And 5 is really the first game in the series to have any DLC, so it's a reasonable assumption to make with future releases.

Although, that being said, one piece of DLC I greatly appreciated was the original Japanese audio. I wish it was just included on the disc, but having access is better then not having it at all. A Japanese game set in Japan that is uniquely Japanese doesn't feel quite right with English voice actors.
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Re: Persona 5

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NuKaholic wrote: November 7th, 2017, 12:37 am I'm not big into the turn based combat
It absolutely kills me when people say this. I am so goddamned sick of action rpgs.

It's getting harder and harder to find turn based combat games on console rather than handheld, and it's all the fault of these ADD "turn based is too slow" gamers who need to have action all the time.

God I can't wait for Dragon Quest 12. (Rant over)
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NuKaholic
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Re: Persona 5

Post by NuKaholic »

ThirdDrawing wrote: November 7th, 2017, 3:03 am
NuKaholic wrote: November 7th, 2017, 12:37 am I'm not big into the turn based combat
It absolutely kills me when people say this. I am so goddamned sick of action rpgs.

It's getting harder and harder to find turn based combat games on console rather than handheld, and it's all the fault of these ADD "turn based is too slow" gamers who need to have action all the time.

It's not like that at all. I assure you I don't need action all the time. I typically lean towards narrative over action in everything from movies to games. When I say "I'm not big into the turn based combat" I only mean that I haven't played many and they're not the type of games I'm drawn too. Didn't mean to imply they are lesser games. I simply meant it's not my cup of tea but I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying it in Persona. Real time rpgs and turn based are both great and appropriate means of gaming.
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Re: Persona 5

Post by ThirdDrawing »

I didn't mean to single you out specifically, sorry!

I just see that sentiment all the time, and I hate it that turn based rpgs are dying.
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NuKaholic
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Re: Persona 5

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No worries. It's not that I dislike them at all. Aside from a few Final Fantasy games I haven't played many. It's just mostly foreign to me but I'm open to trying some more. Any suggestions for me to broaden my horizons? I have PC, PS4 and Switch.
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Re: Persona 5

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Turn based RPGs on PS4 -

Wasteland 2

Divinity Original Sin

Valkyria Chronicles

Dragon Fantasy - The Black Tome of Ice

Rainbow Moon


PC - I don't game on PC but I did find this list on Gog

https://www.gog.com/mix/jrpgs_on_gog


The only turn based Switch rpg I know of is Disgaea 5.
I don't have a Switch yet - but I'll be getting one once Shin Megami Tensei V comes out. Which will be turn based!
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Re: Persona 5

Post by Whippledip »

NuKaholic wrote: November 7th, 2017, 12:37 am I took the themes to be more anti authority and anti government in general more so than against one political faction. There is a lot of distaste for police, politicians, teachers, and government employee's. I'm sure the writers have their political bias's but it's restrained as far as I can see. I'm also not a big jrpg guy. Not to say that I don't like them but it's not a genre I've spent a lot of time in and honestly I'm not big into the turn based combat but this game just really works for me on most levels. I just love the vibe and tone of the game and the anti authority stuff is something I'm into. Also I'm a huge fan of jazz recently and just every track in this game is killer. As far as the sexual harassment stuff in the first palace, it is upsetting but that's all to serve your resolve to stop kamoshida right? I mean it is gross but I think that's kind of the point. Now as far as an underage kid dating his teachers and or an adopted sibling...well I haven't gotten to any of that yet but I've heard about that from others as well. Think I'll just stay single and keep that as head cannon haha. I know it's been out for at least a year now but I'm glad there are still people who want to talk about this game. It's kind of rocking my world right now. Just finished kamoshida's palace and formed the phantom thieves. Gotta say the conclusion to that stuff was pretty impactful and satisfying to me. I hope the other targets have as involved a storyline.
Yeah I agree that the the enemy is power and class systems rather than those pesky adults. This seems to be a surprisingly common misconception from what I've read on other forums. I thought the fight against "the man" as it were was not very subtle, which is fine.

And yeah I didn't have a problem with Kamoshida's palace centre-ing around the abuse of power in the form of sex, but my problem stems from the fact that it decries that in one step and then follows it up immediately with salacious and very deliberate lascivious depictions of some of it's female characters. Not to mention Yusuke desperately trying to get Ann to pose nude, even if it's played off as him not viewing it in any sort of sexual nature and purely as art feels very weird as a follow up the Kamoshida palace. It's also not helped by you and Ryuji constantly trying to pressure her in to doing it against her will for their own ends as well.

Also if you like the music, I highly recommend you check out a band called Casiopea and it's off shoot T-SQUARE. Both big names in japanese jazz fusion and I'm guessing huge influences to the soundtrack of this game.
NuKaholic wrote: November 7th, 2017, 12:37 am
It absolutely kills me when people say this. I am so goddamned sick of action rpgs.

It's getting harder and harder to find turn based combat games on console rather than handheld, and it's all the fault of these ADD "turn based is too slow" gamers who need to have action all the time.

God I can't wait for Dragon Quest 12. (Rant over)

I should clarify too that my aversion for turn based gaming just comes from my inexperience with a lot of JRPG's, I actually found the system in this one really engaging and strategic. One of the few times I can think of where using debuffs/buffs is pretty much required to beat the game rather than just focusing solely on attacking abilities.
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Re: Persona 5

Post by Combine Hunter »

NuKaholic wrote: November 7th, 2017, 12:37 am As far as the sexual harassment stuff in the first palace, it is upsetting but that's all to serve your resolve to stop kamoshida right? I mean it is gross but I think that's kind of the point.
Whippledip already got into this, just to reinforce the point made, I actually don't have an issue with the Kamoshida section at all, because as you say, that's the point. The whole thing is framed as horrific and a condemnation of Kamoshida's outlook. What's aggravating is the game undermines the point it makes here, by then engaging in leering and forcing girls into situations where they are sexually objectified. It's like they're "almost" there, and then trip up at the finish line.
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NuKaholic
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Re: Persona 5

Post by NuKaholic »

Whippledip, that's a great point about the buff/debuff thing. Maybe it's blasphemy to compare this system to the Pokémon games but I always unlearned buff/debuffs in favor of raw damage attacks. It was much easier to grind and just wildly overpower enemies in Pokémon but like you said I find the buff/debuff system crucial in taking down powerful enemies. Especially when one of your party is unable to land damage in any significant way then you can use their turn to power down the enemies defense for another party member who can pack a huge punch against that particular enemy.
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Re: Persona 5

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ThirdDrawing wrote: November 7th, 2017, 4:47 am Turn based RPGs on PS4 -

Wasteland 2

Divinity Original Sin

Valkyria Chronicles

Dragon Fantasy - The Black Tome of Ice

Rainbow Moon


PC - I don't game on PC but I did find this list on Gog

https://www.gog.com/mix/jrpgs_on_gog


The only turn based Switch rpg I know of is Disgaea 5.
I don't have a Switch yet - but I'll be getting one once Shin Megami Tensei V comes out. Which will be turn based!
Final Fantasy X/X-2 remastered as well. Surely that can't be all of them though - I'm amazed if that's the case! I'm a big fan of turn based RPGs too though, it's just finding the time to play them these days. I think as the average gamer gets older and more time-poor, so the industry changes to reflect buying tastes I guess.

EDIT: I Am A Satsuma or whatever on the Switch is turn based too I think.
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Re: Persona 5

Post by ThirdDrawing »

I can't believe I forgot FFX/X-2.

Did I Am Setsuna get a physical release for the Switch?
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Re: Persona 5

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Erm......dunno that one!
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