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[Zafir]

I'm in total agreement about dungeons being too long in some cases. I just did the 7th one, and that took way too long. Looking at my saves it must be somewhere close to 4-5hours(there may have been some idle time, mind). Never mind some of the mechanics in it.

Dungeons have an habit of overusing ideas too much, honestly. It's like they have an interesting idea, and then they beat you over the head with it so you see how 'amazing' it is. Instead all it does it make you hate the thing.

5th dungeon and 7th dungeon so far have been two big offenders of that.

5th dungeon

Spoiler

Oh you can eavesdrop on these robots and find the right robot so you don't have to un-necessarily fight, how cool is that? Yeah, how about you do that two more fucking times while having to fight a load of normal enemies anyway!

7th dungeon

Spoiler

Oh, you can run about this bit as a mouse while avoiding shadows, how fun! Yeah, well, now you can go through 3 more decently sized corridor sections doing the same damn thing!

 

[SomedayTheFire]

I bought this on a whim yesterday, haven't played a persona game before and I'm like ~6 hours in. Starting to feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I can do, assume it's just gonna get more and more dense.

 

[NeonBlack]

Basically when you social link with someone you need to get so many musical notes in the dialogue to advance to the next scene. If you don't, then when you talk with them you will get the "bond won't get closer" dialogue. Hanging out with them now will give you 3 musical notes (2 without the right persona equipped), allowing you to hopefully advance to the next scene next time.

The only exception to this to my knowledge is

Spoiler

Sojiro

who get's locked off early in his Slink until much later in the game.

So when does

Spoiler

Sojiro's

get locked?

 

[Szadek]

How many I supposed to make enough cash for the fortune teller?

 

[YankeeDonB]

The fact that there is a dialogue with her everytime you for a confidant bond leads to some awkward moments.

Video game kid becomes a confidant
*Tense music plays*
"You know how to handle a gun, you must have had some help...WHO WAS IT?"

Lol

God yes, I actually really dislike almost all of the interrogation scenes. The writing for Sae in these is just about the worst too. It's supposed to come off as hard boiled investigator drilling a suspect Usual Suspects style, but just comes off as a weird try-hard word salad written by someone who's watched maybe one and a half episodes of law and order.

In Dungeon 3 and the writing is still holding back my enjoyment, more than in P4 so far, which is a shame, because almost everything else is excellent.

 

[KrisB]

I bought this on a whim yesterday, haven't played a persona game before and I'm like ~6 hours in. Starting to feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I can do, assume it's just gonna get more and more dense.

It will but enjoy the madness that is Persona.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

October 26 spoilers!

Spoiler

What a fucking rollercoaster of emotion, holy hell.

I thought Sojiro would stay sort of similar to Dojima, but he fucking found out. Everything is going sideways fast.

Can anyone tell me (in spoilers) if I'm anywhere near the decision that determines the ending?

Spoiler

With it getting pretty late in the year and everything going to hell and the story soon to catch up to the interrogation room and Goro giving us a crap choice, shit is feeling pretty real right now.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

It will but enjoy the madness that is Persona.

Yeah I'm enjoying it a lot so far, but I'm kinda nervous about the timing systems in place and not being able to properly level stuff up! I don't know maybe I'll fall into a rhythm for it but I can see myself messing it up a fair bit.

 

[Ulong]

So when does

Spoiler

Sojiro's

get locked?

Pretty early on. around rank 3/4. Forget which.

 

[ST2K]

Can anyone tell me (in spoilers) if I'm anywhere near the decision that determines the ending?

Spoiler

With it getting pretty late in the year and everything going to hell and the story soon to catch up to the interrogation room and Goro giving us a crap choice, shit is feeling pretty real right now.

Spoiler

Yes. Well, you're getting near to the first of two choices.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Can anyone tell me (in spoilers) if I'm anywhere near the decision that determines the ending?

Spoiler

With it getting pretty late in the year and everything going to hell and the story soon to catch up to the interrogation room and Goro giving us a crap choice, shit is feeling pretty real right now.

No. And it's not like original P4 where you can mess everything up if you save at the wrong moment. You'll be given the notice when the time comes.

 

[kagamin]

MAJOR 11/20 SPOILERS

Spoiler

what a mindfuck. I was so sure I got the bad ending.

I'm impressed they thought so far in advance about that, and that they noticed how off (related)

Spoiler

Akechi's response was to the pancakes thing, I noticed that almost immediately and was extremely wary of him.

 

[mike6467]

Yeah I'm enjoying it a lot so far, but I'm kinda nervous about the timing systems in place and not being able to properly level stuff up! I don't know maybe I'll fall into a rhythm for it but I can see myself messing it up a fair bit.

You will, and it'll be fine!

The game will be perfectly beatable if you do what you think is interesting and up the links you actually want to up. It's also a lot more fun, because you're invested in the story instead of "Oh God did I answer that question right, I better check online." Take your time in the dungeons, don't look everything up. If you accept you're not going to max things out, and that's alright, you'll have a great time.

The loading screen is the best advice for anyone new to the series. Take your time.

Really take the game in. It's so, so worth it.

 

[PK Gaming]

Alright, so I unlocked the ability to sacrifice Personas in order to boost a single Persona's.

I WILL MAKE ARSENE INTO THE MOST TOXIC, OP PERSONA AROUND

LET'S GO

 

[BrightLightLava]

October 26 spoilers!

Spoiler

What a fucking rollercoaster of emotion, holy hell.

I thought Sojiro would stay sort of similar to Dojima, but he fucking found out. Everything is going sideways fast.

Can anyone tell me (in spoilers) if I'm anywhere near the decision that determines the ending?

Spoiler

With it getting pretty late in the year and everything going to hell and the story soon to catch up to the interrogation room and Goro giving us a crap choice, shit is feeling pretty real right now.

You're

Spoiler

close to catching up to the framing story.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Alright, so I unlocked the ability to sacrifice Personas in order to boost a single Persona's.

I WILL MAKE ARSENE INTO THE MOST TOXIC, OP PERSONA AROUND

LET'S GO

Good luck, considering that you can only strengthen a specific persona once a day.

Though, considering many of the Velvet Room mechanics, it'd be possible to make Arsene pretty powerful, if one was dedicated to it.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Alright, so I unlocked the ability to sacrifice Personas in order to boost a single Persona's.

I WILL MAKE ARSENE INTO THE MOST TOXIC, OP PERSONA AROUND

LET'S GO

Actually they cared about balance this time and you can strengthen a persona only once...

 

[TetraGenesis]

One second I think this is the best game ever and the next I rage uncontrollably at some stupid shit. Argh.

I feel this way constantly. It is simultaneously so much better than 4 in many areas and infuriating in the areas that it's not. Mainly in its reliance on tropes and cliched gags that ultimately damage the characters.

I do wonder at what point of their game design did they still feel like people would actually take multiple days to complete dungeons. Even if they made it longer people would still do it in one day as long they are capable.

This is honestly why I liked the moments in earlier dungeons where they forcibly kick you out once or twice. As long as they balance around it, I like playing the dungeon in chunks. But I can't spare the days it would take to do that when they give you the option of completing it in one. Outside of the calling card, of course.

so I take it all the bitching a few days / pages ago about the game not letting you play and always forcing you to go to sleep and whatnot was because everyone was doing May I assume?

because MY GOD. It's actually souring me on the game to be honest, and I was loving it until now :/

Yeah, May is rough. It was funny going through that in real time on GAF and seeing everyone upset at once hahaha.

Like with past games, characters have their strengths and weaknesses.

My only major disappointment storywise so far (I'm just about to start the 3rd dungeon) is how they've handled Ann. She was stellar during the first arc, but they've fallen back on bad tropes with her. Her looks, which should be a source of pain for her, are mainly played up for laughs and it's pretty miserable. Her Social Link is all over the place too, and she comes off even ditzier in those than she does in the main story.

I like her as a character, but the situations they keep putting her in are just kinda stupid and cringey. We get it, she's hot, she's blonde. We don't see much evidence of her being ostracized for this, so it's hard to emphasize while the game also keeps being like "HEY ANN'S HOT HUH?" Part of me wishes they could have gone full tilt with the bi-racial route and gone with something even more unusual than a blonde-haired, blue eyed girl. So far none of the bi-racial stuff has really come up in a way that's made Ann seem like an outcast. She mentions it here and there in her Social Link, but we simply don't see it.

This is a minor stain on a game that, at least so far, has had some genuinely touching moments and seems more natural than P3 and 4. June has been an excellent month for this, and I've grown to like the overall cast dynamic.

I think it's funny in the erroneous perv anime scene where

Spoiler

Ann and Makoto sweat in the catbus

Yusuke is looking at

Spoiler

Makoto

instead. Guess he really isn't after her that way.

I'm glad about the owner of the 4th palace because I was wondering when we would get to see

Spoiler

a woman's palace

Yeah,
A.) The tone is all over the place. The first arc is strong. And then they just can't keep the momentum up.
B.) Her design is so annoying. Why only go 25% "American" to make a hot blonde, and why make a hot blonde if you want some social outcast while the game actively shows everyone in the 50 mile radius drooling over her? They didn't even get into it being an issue of bullying or jealousy from other girls, or cultural disconnects too much, beyond rumors about

Spoiler

Her and Kamoshida

and "feel bad for the hot white girl everyone thinks is hot" isn't all that compelling.It's pretty much cheating. Of course there could be a cultural reason as to why that rings particularly hollow to us.They could have given her some better back story and designed her as a gal type who dyes her hair and wears circle lenses because she models on the side.

Absolutely.

Really good observations, guys. I'm midway through the fourth palace and the game somehow continues to undercut and diminish its characters after working so hard to build them up and flesh them out. They all seem to dissolve into caricatures of themselves. The kind of stuff you'd expect in season 5 of a network comedy.

 

[Karsticles]

Alright, so I unlocked the ability to sacrifice Personas in order to boost a single Persona's.

I WILL MAKE ARSENE INTO THE MOST TOXIC, OP PERSONA AROUND

LET'S GO

Wait, is every Persona viable now?!?!

 

[Balphon]

Managed to get to the end of the first palace in one day on hard but it took pretty much every item I had. There were a few silly points like Archangels that would one shot the group if I didn't land Marin Karin on them before they could move.

Spent a little time after that grinding easy stuff to get Media and Tarunda on Morgana and Ann. Figure those will be useful on the boss.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

You're

Spoiler

close to catching up to the framing story.

Well, I knew that!

Spoiler

I knew it had to be somewhere from Sep-Nov because Sae says it started "six months ago" in the opening, so it depends on when she started counting.

 

[Kindekuma]

In the third dungeon right now. Goddamn this music in the dungeon is so, so good.

 

[ramyeon]

Good luck, considering that you can only strengthen a specific persona once a day.

Though, considering many of the Velvet Room mechanics, it'd be possible to make Arsene pretty powerful, if one was dedicated to it.

Actually they cared about balance this time and you can strengthen a persona only once...

If you have a lot of disposable income you can just strengthen, register, delete, summon and strengthen again to get around this limitation.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

If you have a lot of disposable income you can just strengthen, register, delete, summon and strengthen again to get around this limitation.

Ha, that works? That sounds insane.

 

[mike6467]

You're

Spoiler

close to catching up to the framing story.

At what point does this happen? I'm happy to hear they didn't leave you in that state the entire game. I am wondering what percentage of the story happens there though.

 

[BrightLightLava]

At what point does this happen? I'm happy to hear they didn't leave you in that state the entire game. I am wondering what percentage of the story happens there though.

It's

Spoiler

85% of the way thru, based on number of palaces. I can't remember the exact dates, but it's the middle/end of November.

 

[freeofgreed]

I'm convinced Sojima's S-link doesn't go beyond 3. I think the programmers honestly forgot to write anything beyond that point.

 

[Opa-Pa]

If you have a lot of disposable income you can just strengthen, register, delete, summon and strengthen again to get around this limitation.

Whoa I thought this wouldn't work so I didn't bother. Neat.

 

[Zackat]

these

Spoiler

Oni shadows in the 3rd dungeon wreck me

. I am only like level 21 am I too low for the third dungeon or something? I've died and lost progress enough times I am almost gonna stop playing. The fucking cat won't let me go to Mementos to do anything either.

 

[PK Gaming]

Good luck, considering that you can only strengthen a specific persona once a day.

Though, considering many of the Velvet Room mechanics, it'd be possible to make Arsene pretty powerful, if one was dedicated to it.

Actually they cared about balance this time and you can strengthen a persona only once...

Yeah i'm going to keep at it, day by the day.

Wait, is every Persona viable now?!?!

You betcha.

 

[Ulong]

I'm convinced Sojima's S-link doesn't go beyond 3. I think the programmers honestly forgot to write anything beyond that point.

You're locked until

Spoiler

Late August

(That spoiler is just the ingame time, not story specific stuff.)

 

[OniBarubary]

Man, I always enjoy that when you start a relationship with someone it goes "There's no turning back now" It sounds so fucking dire when it says that, I laugh every time

 

[freeofgreed]

these

Spoiler

Oni shadows in the 3rd dungeon wreck me

. I am only like level 21 am I too low for the third dungeon or something? I've died and lost progress enough times I am almost gonna stop playing. The fucking cat won't let me go to Mementos to do anything either.

Yeah 3 is the first real difficulty spike in the game. Mainly because it's where you start to encounter a lot of enemies that have AOEs and don't have standard weaknesses.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Man, I always enjoy that when you start a relationship with someone it goes "There's no turning back now" It sounds so fucking dire when it says that, I laugh every time

In Japanese culture, there is no dating. You sign the marriage contract day one.

 

[freeofgreed]

You're locked until

Spoiler

Late August

(That spoiler is just the ingame time, not story specific stuff.)

I'm in October though lol. Already wasted 2 days trying to level him up and it still hasn't progressed. Don't want to waste anymore time on it.

 

[Xeteh]

Man, I always enjoy that when you start a relationship with someone it goes "There's no turning back now" It sounds so fucking dire when it says that, I laugh every time

"There's no turning back now... you already ate this morning."

 

[rugioh]

dat palace 3 theme

 

[Zackat]

Yeah 3 is the first real difficulty spike in the game. Mainly because it's where you start to encounter a lot of enemies that have AOEs and don't have standard weaknesses.

I think the real problem is I don't have any Medium damage spells that can kill those stupid demons quickly since they are resistant to melee. I am kind of at a loss.

 

[hipsterpants]

I'm impressed they thought so far in advance about that, and that they noticed how off (related)

Spoiler

Akechi's response was to the pancakes thing, I noticed that almost immediately and was extremely wary of him.

Spoiler

I didn't lol. It's a pretty genius way to hint at it though. Unfortunately him being the traitor is so unbelievably obvious anyway even if you don't expect him to be a psychopath

 

[ramyeon]

these

Spoiler

Oni shadows in the 3rd dungeon wreck me

. I am only like level 21 am I too low for the third dungeon or something? I've died and lost progress enough times I am almost gonna stop playing. The fucking cat won't let me go to Mementos to do anything either.

A lot of the physical based enemies in Palace 3 are really weak to status effects. They're really easy to Charm or Confuse while you take them down or they kill each other.

 

[freeofgreed]

dat palace 3 theme

Yup. Best Palace theme in the game

Spoiler

Sorry Palace 4 theme fans, 3 is better

I think the real problem is I don't have any Medium damage spells that can kill those stupid demons quickly since they are resistant to melee. I am kind of at a loss.

Honestly my advice is too keep Mokoto and Yusuke in your party and to just focus on doing raw damage. Don't worry too much about exploiting weaknesses, unless you can figure it out.

 

[LotusHD]

Yup. Best Palace theme in the game

Spoiler

Sorry Palace 4 theme fans, 3 is better

I sure hope Palace 3 isn't the best. It's cool and all, but they can do better.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Yup. Best Palace theme in the game

Spoiler

Sorry Palace 4 theme fans, 3 is better

Honestly my advice is too keep Mokoto and Yusuke in your party and to just focus on doing raw damage. Don't worry too much about exploiting weaknesses, unless you can figure it out.

I see you've forgotten about palace 6 theme. Hopefully Meguro will forgive you.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Yup. Best Palace theme in the game

Spoiler

Sorry Palace 4 theme fans, 3 is better

Japanese fans voted

Spoiler

Palace 6

as the best Palace theme in the game (and the 3rd best song overall), and I tend to agree.

 

[freeofgreed]

I see you've forgotten about palace 6 theme. Hopefully Meguro will forgive you.

Japanese fans voted

Spoiler

Palace 6

as the best Palace theme in the game, and I tend to agree.

Lol I'm not done yet, I'm actually about to start Palace 6 so I guess im going to find out soon. But then again everyone was saying 4 was better than 3 and I disagreed so hopefully this isn't a repeat of that case.

 

[BrightLightLava]

Spoiler

I didn't lol. It's a pretty genius way to hint at it though. Unfortunately him being the traitor is so unbelievably obvious anyway even if you don't expect him to be a psychopath

(End game spoilers)

Spoiler

I was so glad that the characters noticed, because he was sketchy as fuck.

 

[YankeeDonB]

It's kind of silly, but my favorite song so far is the little hook they play when you're sitting in class (texting, answering quiz questions, etc.). Such a groove!

 

[SolVanderlyn]

October 26 spoilers!

Spoiler

What a fucking rollercoaster of emotion, holy hell.

I thought Sojiro would stay sort of similar to Dojima, but he fucking found out. Everything is going sideways fast.

Can anyone tell me (in spoilers) if I'm anywhere near the decision that determines the ending?

Spoiler

With it getting pretty late in the year and everything going to hell and the story soon to catch up to the interrogation room and Goro giving us a crap choice, shit is feeling pretty real right now.

October 26th is my birthday, and

Spoiler

I was not disappointed when it turned out to be one of the best days in the game

 

[silva1991]

Heart broken after finishing the game </3

Great game and probably my GOTY, but it's not as good as Persona 4 to me.

P5 has the much better dungeons and much improved combat, but P4 has the much much much better story, characters and music overall.

About the story,

Spoiler

to me it just never really gets better and that probably why i thought the game was longer than it should have been. There aren't even great twists like the reall final boss of P4 ... unless I missed it somehow?

Characters are good, but never grew on me in the last 2 or 3 or even more dungeons sadly.

So yeah great game and a great JRPG overall. I just wish I liked the story more than that.

At least final boss is better than P4's. Not even close to Nyx Avatar though.

 

[msdstc]

So I played p4 all the way through, but there are a few things I'm still not 100% on. When it says ",not yet ready to advance", does that mean that visit is useless or do I have to do multiple of those visits? I noticed in p4 that sometimes without doing anything different, events would happen that would auto improve a link.