Futaba's mom actually committing suicide would run completely counter to Futaba's entire arc though. Deep down, she knew there was something fishy about her Mother's death, but was too scared and messed up to confront that truth. So she just accepted the lies that were fed to her. Watching her overcome that with her own shadow (and not the Phantom Thieves) was genuinely pretty touching and one of the emotional highs of the game. Also man, I can't agree with Swear to My Bones being mediocre at all; that song plain rocks.
Also idk, it felt more Persona 4 to me than Persona 3. I mean Futaba literally accepts her Shadow, lol.
I felt absolutely nothing. Mega cheese, and none in a good way, like most of the awakenings.
PSIENCE PSIENCE PSIENCE PSIENCE
And I say it was more Persona 3 than Persona 4 because it was pretty dumb.
The actress does a good enough job though.
EDIT: To expand in a less obnoxious way (dungeon 4 spoilers)
Government conspiracies are fucking lame. Like, so fucking lame. Government conspiracies that ackowledge the videogame bullshit that we're partaking in are even worse. Project Zero has an incredible story, but if the government starts investigating the magic camera that destroys ghosts, the whole thing falls apart. Exaclty the same logic here.
If Futaba's mum had actually killed herself, it could have been a serious story about depression. It could have been a story about how she did love Futaba, but one day things went bad and she killed herself. It could have been about Futaba getting over it and realising that it wasn't her fault. As it is, it's a garbage story about a made-up kind of brain science, and a men in black plot to kill the lady researching it. It's shlocky and bad.
I'd actually rate Persona 5's Social Links as pretty high just because of their affects of gameplay and the systems. Like all of the Confidants have effects related to who they are and what they do and affect the game in pretty large ways.
Indeed, I feel this isn't mentioned enough. It's a great way to further involve the SL's with the gameplay mechanics and it's done in a way that makes complete sense. It also makes the time investment required for each feel more worthwhile.
I'm following a 100% guide and my knowledge was 1 at the first exams man.
I'd actually rate Persona 5's Social Links as pretty high just because of their affects of gameplay and the systems. Like all of the Confidants have effects related to who they are and what they do and affect the game in pretty large ways.
Futaba's mom actually committing suicide would run completely counter to Futaba's entire arc though. Deep down, she knew there was something fishy about her Mother's death, but was too scared and messed up to confront that truth. So she just accepted the lies that were fed to her. Watching her overcome that with her own shadow (and not the Phantom Thieves) was genuinely pretty touching and one of the emotional highs of the game. Also man, I can't agree with Swear to My Bones being mediocre at all; that song plain rocks.
Also idk, it felt more Persona 4 to me than Persona 3. I mean Futaba literally accepts her Shadow, lol.
I might have been overleveled at level 19 but the second boss was a breeze for me. Any skill which hit all enemies trivialises the fight. I finished the dungeon in 2 days too, 1 to explore to the end (used healing items rather than backing out to get it done in one go) and 1 to take out the boss.
Yeah, at 19 I can imagine that fight being a breeze. I'm playing on Merciless, so overleveling is pretty much impossible (I had to spend around 4-5 days between clearing the palace and then some grinding). Once I got access to Rampage the fight was easier, although it's still a bit of a challenge when any weakness or critical hit is an automatic KO.
I just liked the way the various mechanics in the latter part of the fight came together.
Haha. Looks like i'm back to 200% emphatically disagreeing with you on something regarding Persona again.
I'm really struggling to see how Futaba coming to terms with how her mom died is cheesy, or somehow even more cheesy than how it went down in P4, but I digress.
When does Persona 5 get good? The gameplay is putting me to sleep. As an SMT vet this is the most boring SMT game I've ever played. Persona 3 is what I consider my personal favorite RPG. It wasn't perfect, and I've played far better RPGs (even better SMT games) but it just hit all the right buttons for me. Persona 5 is in every way a step back so far besides story and characters. Suggesting that it's game of the year potential, much less one of the best Persona games is laughable. The gameplay is atrocious to me so far, and has completely rid itself of what made previous Persona's (both old and new type) so endeari-shouldn't you be getting to bed? We don't have time for that.
There's one in the room with the two rows of mummies where you fought a mini-boss. You can climb one of them and find a green stone there. I think that's it?
Haha. Looks like i'm back to 200% emphatically disagreeing with you on something regarding Persona again.
I'm really struggling to see how Futaba coming to terms with how her mom died is cheesy, or somehow even more cheesy than how it went down in P4, but I digress.
I love P3, but more because it was the first game that did what it did.
The narrative is garbage (but fun to play through!), the final boss is incredible, the music and the art blew my mind (first Soejima game I played!), the writing and acting is amazingly solid for a JRPG, and Yukari and Junpei are tremendous characters.
But man, fuck everything about the Kirijo group and their research. What a load of shit.
In regards to the spoiler
she doesn't come to terms with anything. She realises it's all a big dumb plot that she has nothing to do with and then has a complete heel turn whilst Meguro's cheesiest ever song plays in the background. It was awful. "MY MUM LOVES ME. SHE'D NEVER HURT ME. EVERYTHING IS GREAT. I'LL SHOW YOU MY POWER!". Blech.
Haha. Looks like i'm back to 200% emphatically disagreeing with you on something regarding Persona again.
I'm really struggling to see how Futaba coming to terms with how her mom died is cheesy, or somehow even more cheesy than how it went down in P4, but I digress.
I dunno about previous games, but while the subject matter (in this case her coming to terms with her mom's death) is some obviously serious and heavy shit, the dialogue that it took for her to get to that point indeed felt quite cheesy to me. And the speed at which it happened was somewhat hard to believe, but meh, it's mainly the dialogue that continually amuses me. Not just that one, in general, whenever they're scolding/criticizing the bosses/Memento bosses, or the dialogue leading up to a character getting their Persona, it usually comes off as being pretty corny.
There's one in the room with the two rows of mummies where you fought a mini-boss. You can climb one of them and find a green stone there. I think that's it?
Haha yes this is pretty much exactly what I envisioned! Just in my head it was with real photos (similar to the battle ui stuff) and writing over Sae's dialogue bubble in one of the scenes.
When does Persona 5 get good? The gameplay is putting me to sleep. As an SMT vet this is the most boring SMT game I've ever played. Persona 3 is what I consider my personal favorite RPG. It wasn't perfect, and I've played far better RPGs (even better SMT games) but it just hit all the right buttons for me. Persona 5 is in every way a step back so far besides story and characters. Suggesting that it's game of the year potential, much less one of the best Persona games is laughable. The gameplay is atrocious to me so far, and has completely rid itself of what made previous Persona's (both old and new type) so endeari-shouldn't you be getting to bed? We don't have time for that.
I'm not an SMT vet but I do have my share of rpgs and unfortunaly the battles won't get better. What you discovered during the 25h of intro is what you will stick to until the end.
But I'm surprised what make you feel that way ? Because SMT core gameplay is similar to Persona, no ? (I never played SMT just Devil Survivor and Personas games)
To have freedom at night, I suggest you to max Temperance her perk let you go out at night.
When does Persona 5 get good? The gameplay is putting me to sleep. As an SMT vet this is the most boring SMT game I've ever played. Persona 3 is what I consider my personal favorite RPG. It wasn't perfect, and I've played far better RPGs (even better SMT games) but it just hit all the right buttons for me. Persona 5 is in every way a step back so far besides story and characters. Suggesting that it's game of the year potential, much less one of the best Persona games is laughable. The gameplay is atrocious to me so far, and has completely rid itself of what made previous Persona's (both old and new type) so endeari-shouldn't you be getting to bed? We don't have time for that.
It's just that compared to everything else it's the worst. My rankings are 6 > 4=7 > 3 > 2=1 >>> 5
(Includes end game spoilers)
I actually really like the 8th one but I donno where to rank it, it has a great atmosphere and music but it's a very dungeony dungeon...5 is quite dungeony as well but it has the disadvantage of shit music, and padded design everywhere. 3 suffers from a bit of padding as well the last lock in the vault was unnecessary. Number 7 has those five mini boss fights but atleast it was aesthetically varied enough while you went around looking for them..very cool atmosphere and music.
My mini-review of P5 compared to the rest of the series, wall of text incoming.
Major spoilers are marked
Main plot:
P5 > P3 > P4
P5 obviously learned a lot from 3/4. Every dungeon is woven directly into the story, and the classroom segments all end up being relevant to it as well. The pacing is much better and never broken up by exploring floors and floors of a similar looking dungeon (other than Mementos which feels less stressful as it isn't the "main" dungeon). The Phantom Thieves tie into every aspect of the story and the main plot is really the driving force behind the game.
Shido and Akechi make fantastic villains. Yaldabaoth was kind of... whatever. I feel like the game could have done without him, but the Igor surprise was kind of worth his inclusion.
P3's main plot was incredibly unique and had a killer atmosphere
literally
, but the repetitive nature of Tartarus broke the pacing of the game for me. I LOVED the full moon segments, but the mandatory tower crawl is not something I ever want to go back to. (Mementos is nothing compared to the hundreds of floors Tartarus had). P4 had much tighter pacing, and its focus on weather and murder mysteries was really cool, but the goofiness of the main cast puts it a bit below the others for me. I love P4, don't get me wrong - but it got a little too cartoony at times.
Characters:
P5 > P3 > P4
I love P5's group of outcasts. They're a bunch of urban city kids who don't have anywhere else to go and have every reason to be one of the Phantom Thieves. They act like realistic teenagers (which is incidentally why a lot of people hate Ryuji, but I found it to be a positive). Their chemistry with each other is fantastic. Yusuke is probably the most lovable goofball I've ever seen in a game. The supporting cast is amazing too (love Sae and
Akechi
).
P3's SEEs felt less close to each other than the other two games, but I kind of liked that in its own way. P3 was a more serious game and the relative distance didn't feel out of place there. P4's Scooby Doo gang was fun to be around, but a little too lighthearted for me.
The traitor has gotten more interesting with each game.
Social Links:
P4 > P3 > P5
This is probably the low point of P5 to me. The social links aren't bad, per say, but they certainly aren't as impactful as the ones in the previous two games. I feel like a lot of bonding events end with almost nothing substantial happening. Every confidant also ends with
them finding out you're a Thief
which feels a bit shoehorned in. Overall, I think the focus on the main plot harmed the social aspect of the game a bit.
This was where P4's holly jolly murder mystery team had a chance to shine. The lighter atmosphere and tighter group connection (without the negative connotation of being a group of outcasts) was the perfect backdrop for a game about hanging out with other people. P3's was also very solid as you came to learn about the different people who lived in the city, and the school life segment felt much beefier than it did in the other games (probably because it was the first game to really use S. Links).
I don't dislike P5's, but they are weaker than the last two games.
Atmosphere:
P3 > P5 > P4
I think P3 is still the king for me in this regard. It's clean, cool and composed. The city is very sleek and everything feels eerily calm in that game. The game had the heaviest themes with its obsession with
death and evil cults and the like
, which appeals to my personal tastes more than the lighter stuff I suppose. P4 worked well as a complete inverse of that, trading the distant loneliness of the city for the intimate and casual countryside.
P5 hit a good balance between those two settings. It returned to the city, but wasn't a complete repeat of P3. It has urban grittiness and a "noise" to it than P3's quiet city does not. It's like upscale private school compared to an ordinary public school. It was darker and more serious than P4, but never as crushing and empty as P3 got.
Conclusion:
Overall, I'd say each game its place, but P5 is the best overall package for me despite its weaker social links. It's clear the team has taken what they did with P3/P4 and used their experience to create a tighter game, which can be seen most prominently in how the plot and dungeons fit together perfectly, and how the game has an airtight pacing after the long intro. I think it's my favorite Persona game.
I almost complete agree on majority of your points the but my order would be a different
for those games
Main plot
P3=>P5>P4
Characters
P5=>P3>P4
Social Links
P5=>P3>P4
Atomsphere
P3>P5>P4
Music
P5>=P3>P4
For music majority of P5 are overall great than both but they don't leave thhe same impact like Memories of You or Batte for everyone's Soul. Though River of the Desert is coming close
Finally secured treasure route in Palace 7. I feel like all the dungeons did a good job of balancing there gimmicks, but the one here is used a little more often than I would have liked.
I'm not an SMT vet but I do have my share of rpgs and unfortunaly the battles won't get better. What you discovered during the 25h of intro is what you will stick to until the end.
But I'm surprised what make you feel that way ? Because SMT core gameplay is similar to Persona, no ? (I never played SMT just Devil Survivor and Personas games)
To have freedom at night, I suggest you to max Temperance her perk let you go out at night.
In Persona 3 you have freedom to do things. SMT games are also far, far harder. Persona is a more mainstream take, so it's easier, but it's never been this mind numbingly dull and easy. The first dungeon put me to sleep. Currently I'm in May and the game is on fucking rails. If you've ever played Persona 3, you'd know you always have choice and it's never on rails.
I also question why you go into dungeons after school rather than at night. Doing so after school gets in the way of social links and school activities. It rids itself of the day/night theme that made P3 so addictive. There was balance between day gameplay and night gameplay. This game feels so restrictive in what you can do because of this design choice.
So far, this is the worst Persona I've played and I've played em all.
I'm not an SMT vet but I do have my share of rpgs and unfortunaly the battles won't get better. What you discovered during the 25h of intro is what you will stick to until the end.
But I'm surprised what make you feel that way ? Because SMT core gameplay is similar to Persona, no ? (I never played SMT just Devil Survivor and Personas games)
To have freedom at night, I suggest you to max Temperance her perk let you go out at night.
Similar yes, but Persona is way more loose when it comes to combat and there's way less of it compared to an SMT game. Plus, combat tends to be far more punishing for the underprepared in an SMT game. Last, while there's a story there, it's much lighter and follows a standard chaos, law, neutral path depending on your choices. You go to an SMT game for atmosphere and challenge, not necessarily story or building character relationships.
How many video games are there? Entering November and might spend all the free time beating the video games. Nearly maxed all confidants except two. Read all available books so far.
When does Persona 5 get good? The gameplay is putting me to sleep. As an SMT vet this is the most boring SMT game I've ever played. Persona 3 is what I consider my personal favorite RPG. It wasn't perfect, and I've played far better RPGs (even better SMT games) but it just hit all the right buttons for me. Persona 5 is in every way a step back so far besides story and characters. Suggesting that it's game of the year potential, much less one of the best Persona games is laughable. The gameplay is atrocious to me so far, and has completely rid itself of what made previous Persona's (both old and new type) so endeari-shouldn't you be getting to bed? We don't have time for that.
You hate the gameplay here but like Persona 3's gameplay which is basically a less evolved version of Persona 5 gameplay? I don't understand. You couldn't even control party members in Persona 3's battles. I mean the gameplay here is pretty much the same as it has always been with additional refinements.
You do realise the hypebole in saying "suggesting it's a game of the year potential is laughable" when it's the 2nd best reviewed game of the year and PLENTY of people here have said it's game of the year potential. What's amazing is that you are passing judgement on the design after playing 1 dungeon. Just because you..One person..says so for whatever the reasons no matter how valid they are, does not make every single one of those opinions "laughable". Just think about what it when you make such hyperbole next time.
You guys were not lying when you said Ryuji was growing to be an annoying piece of shit. Holy fuck I never thought a fictional character could piss me off this much with how stupid they're.
When does Persona 5 get good? The gameplay is putting me to sleep. As an SMT vet this is the most boring SMT game I've ever played. Persona 3 is what I consider my personal favorite RPG. It wasn't perfect, and I've played far better RPGs (even better SMT games) but it just hit all the right buttons for me. Persona 5 is in every way a step back so far besides story and characters. Suggesting that it's game of the year potential, much less one of the best Persona games is laughable. The gameplay is atrocious to me so far, and has completely rid itself of what made previous Persona's (both old and new type) so endeari-shouldn't you be getting to bed? We don't have time for that.
You really have crazy nostalgia for P3's dungeon design? Random generated, repetitive as hell and boring enemy design (literally, the worst designed "dungeon" in the entire MegaTen series). The enemies are the worst designed out of the entire Persona series and the combat music gets boring after the umpteenth time, let alone the incredibly boring dungeon music itself which changes only a tad after every few floors. It's easily Meguro's worst work as a composer. The dungeon in that game is frigging terrible (P4 at least had dedicated dungeons for each character, even if they weren't hand crafted like P5's). P5's dungeon design in comparison is on another level entirely in terms of quality. Same goes for enemy design.
Similar yes, but Persona is way more loose when it comes to combat and there's way less of it compared to an SMT game. Plus, combat tends to be far more punishing for the underprepared in an SMT game. Last, while there's a story there, it's much lighter and follows a standard chaos, law, neutral path depending on your choices. You go to an SMT game for atmosphere and challenge, not necessarily story or building character relationships.
You really have crazy nostalgia for P3's dungeon design? Random generated, repetitive as hell and boring enemy design (literally, the worst designed "dungeon" in the entire MegaTen series). The enemies are the worst designed out of the entire Persona series and the combat music gets boring after the umpteenth time. It's frigging terrible. P5's dungeon design in comparison is on another level.
When did I say I have nostalgia for P3's dungeon design? At least P3 has tight corridors so not every battle is an ambush. Out of all the battles I've fought, about 95% so far are ambush in my favor.
Since P5 has actually designed dungeons, I was hoping they were good dungeons in Atlus tradition. After all, we're talking about the same people who made SMT2, SMT3, DDS, EO. Instead, the dungeons have been gimmicky bores. Just because they're designed doesn't make them good. On the contrary, the more I play the more I see the value in P3/4 having random dungeons. P5's dungeons don't jive with the formula. There was a challenge with trying to do I don't know, 15-20 floors in a night in P3 with low stamina. But here, all I have to do is make it to the safe room and put up. Boring.
