Screw your backlog. Seriously. You'll never finish all those games in your lifetime anyways, if yours is as long as mine; might as well play what you feel like. That said, burnout is real and I totally get the worry. FWIW, I was concerned about that too, but I did an NG+ run right after finishing the game and had no regrets.
In fact, I'm apparently so ready to stay on the Persona train that I've just started an NG+ FeMC run of Persona 3 Portable because I've never played the female route before. (also holy shit you keep your XP level in P3P NG+, my girl's level 79 daaaaaamn)
I haven't been doing many persona fusions and I'm 30 hours into the game right now at the part where
Makoto is going to report me to the police. I need to stop the mafia/yakuza boss.
I'm just wondering if by this point I should have fused a few personas? I mainly just stick with Arsene or whatever works. I still have a treasure demon from palace 2 I've done nothing with.
I haven't been doing many persona fusions and I'm 30 hours into the game right now at the part where
Makoto is going to report me to the police. I need to stop the mafia/yakuza boss.
I'm just wondering if by this point I should have fused a few personas? I mainly just stick with Arsene or whatever works. I still have a treasure demon from palace 2 I've done nothing with.
As long as you're getting by, there's no real need to fuse new personas. Worst case scenario you get in over your head, run back to entrance, and pay a visit to the Velvet Room.
Fusing is pretty fun once you get the hang of it, though, if only to see all the neat stuff you can summon.
I haven't been doing many persona fusions and I'm 30 hours into the game right now at the part where
Makoto is going to report me to the police. I need to stop the mafia/yakuza boss.
I'm just wondering if by this point I should have fused a few personas? I mainly just stick with Arsene or whatever works. I still have a treasure demon from palace 2 I've done nothing with.
Wow. Nice job keeping Arsene this long; I think that's pretty uncommon unless you're specifically trying to keep him in your active stock.
So, you can stick with your current strategy if you think it works for you (the game's relatively flexible in that sense), but generally avoiding persona fusion is something people do to give themselves an extra challenge. You're intended to fuse personas early and often, and you're not expected to keep Arsene for very long unless you're specifically trying to level him up for funsies (also see: that one person in this thread who's spent a lot of time and resources into making a badass Arsene).
You'll know if you should fuse more if you start running into situations where enemies are targeting your weaknesses and you don't have any personas to cover them, or if you know the enemies are weak to a certain element/force but you don't have any personas that can target that weakness. Even then, your other party members can do a great deal to cover gaps in your offensive arsenal.
Yeah, fuse your stock all the time basisally, if you really like a persona keep it until it learns it's last skill, register it and then send it to the graveyard in your heart. Almost all of the MCs levelling (persona fusion / negotiation cap, HP and SP and equipment excepted ) comes from his equipped Persona.
Is it possible to block Mudoon instant kill? I'm trying to farm money from Shadow Akitsu in Mementos and he keeps instant killing me when his health gets low.
Hours of work with nothing to show for it! I have Black Frost, would that reflect Mudoon back to him?
Doing a new set of fusions is stressful and long for me cause I always want to have at minimum one of each element and to cover my own weaknesses if possible. I think I'll need to do it again soon. Current personas seem to be not as effective
Is it possible to block Mudoon instant kill? I'm trying to farm money from Shadow Akitsu in Mementos and he keeps instant killing me when his health gets low.
Hours of work with nothing to show for it! I have Black Frost, would that reflect Mudoon back to him?
Is it possible to block Mudoon instant kill? I'm trying to farm money from Shadow Akitsu in Mementos and he keeps instant killing me when his health gets low.
Hours of work with nothing to show for it! I have Black Frost, would that reflect Mudoon back to him?
Mudoon is a curse skill, so any persona with curse protection should work (not sure what effect drain would have, but repel and reflect should be fine). You can also try boosting Joker's evasion and lowering the enemy's accuracy.
As long as you're getting by, there's no real need to fuse new personas. Worst case scenario you get in over your head, run back to entrance, and pay a visit to the Velvet Room.
Fusing is pretty fun once you get the hang of it, though, if only to see all the neat stuff you can summon.
Wow. Nice job keeping Arsene this long; I think that's pretty uncommon unless you're specifically trying to keep him in your active stock.
So, you can stick with your current strategy if you think it works for you (the game's relatively flexible in that sense), but generally avoiding persona fusion is something people do to give themselves an extra challenge. You're intended to fuse personas early and often, and you're not expected to keep Arsene for very long unless you're specifically trying to level him up for funsies (also see: that one person in this thread who's spent a lot of time and resources into making a badass Arsene).
You'll know if you should fuse more if you start running into situations where enemies are targeting your weaknesses and you don't have any personas to cover them, or if you know the enemies are weak to a certain element/force but you don't have any personas that can target that weakness. Even then, your other party members can do a great deal to cover gaps in your offensive arsenal.
I mainly kept Arsene since well he's on the cover so I figured he's important, haha. I use other personas in battle sometimes though but I felt keeping Arsene was necessary too. The game has been somewhat of a challenge already! It's good to know people avoid it for challenges though as I'm sure fusing a super powerful persona would make battles a breeze. I will continue at this same pace and fuse if i'm in trouble. Thanks!
Mudoon is a curse skill, so any persona with curse protection should work (not sure what effect drain would have, but repel and reflect should be fine). You can also try boosting Joker's evasion and lowering the enemy's accuracy.
Can someone give me a really rough estimate of how much more of the game I have left at my current pace (in hours)? Just trying to plan out my game time for the next week...if it's concivable that I can beat it in the coming week I'll devote a little more time to it.
I just
entered palace 6 for the first time at 63 hours on the clock.
Can someone give me a really rough estimate of how much more of the game I have left at my current pace (in hours)? Just trying to plan out my game time for the next week...if it's concivable that I can beat it in the coming week I'll devote a little more time to it.
I just
entered palace 6 for the first time at 63 hours on the clock.
There we go Compendium as complete as it gets on 12/8 without having to do the last confusable Mementos Boss first (so missing ultimate Fool, Magician, last 2 treasure demons, NG+ Persona and Yoshitsune and Chi Yu who have magician dependence). Time to go top up my cash then get those treasure demons.
This damn Futaba trophy is bringing my playthrough to a halt.
It's November 13, one week before
the game catches up to the present
, and I already know that
Akechi's going to leave the party permanently
at that time. So now I've gone to Mementos to try to get as many
status ailments inflicted on him
as possible, having
him dodge attacks, get low health/killed
, etc., and thus have Futaba say more unique lines while they're still available.
I've been playing on Normal this whole time, changing my party members often, and Futaba's said a reasonable number of different lines, but that's far from reassuring. My worries are probably unfounded, but I'm still just constantly hoping the trophy will pop with every new line I hear so I can just get on with the game.
This damn Futaba trophy is bringing my playthrough to a halt.
It's November 13, one week before
the game catches up to the present
, and I already know that
Akechi's going to leave the party permanently
at that time. So now I've gone to Mementos to try to get as many
status ailments inflicted on him
as possible, having
him dodge attacks, get low health/killed
, etc., and thus have Futaba say more unique lines while they're still available.
I've been playing on Normal this whole time, changing my party members often, and Futaba's said a reasonable number of different lines, but that's far from reassuring. My worries are probably unfounded, but I'm still just constantly hoping the trophy will pop with every new line I hear so I can just get on with the game.
You shouldn't deliberately be leaving dungeons until the last moment if that is what you were doing. I guess you know that now, but yeah, they keep bugging you about it for a reason.
This damn Futaba trophy is bringing my playthrough to a halt.
It's November 13, one week before
the game catches up to the present
, and I already know that
Akechi's going to leave the party permanently
at that time. So now I've gone to Mementos to try to get as many
status ailments inflicted on him
as possible, having
him dodge attacks, get low health/killed
, etc., and thus have Futaba say more unique lines while they're still available.
I've been playing on Normal this whole time, changing my party members often, and Futaba's said a reasonable number of different lines, but that's far from reassuring. My worries are probably unfounded, but I'm still just constantly hoping the trophy will pop with every new line I hear so I can just get on with the game.
This damn Futaba trophy is bringing my playthrough to a halt.
It's November 13, one week before
the game catches up to the present
, and I already know that
Akechi's going to leave the party permanently
at that time. So now I've gone to Mementos to try to get as many
status ailments inflicted on him
as possible, having
him dodge attacks, get low health/killed
, etc., and thus have Futaba say more unique lines while they're still available.
I've been playing on Normal this whole time, changing my party members often, and Futaba's said a reasonable number of different lines, but that's far from reassuring. My worries are probably unfounded, but I'm still just constantly hoping the trophy will pop with every new line I hear so I can just get on with the game.
If it makes you feel better, I spent the absolute bare minimum of time
wandering around Mementos with Goro, and I got the trophy not too far into the second last dungeon.
You're probably safe to move on I'd say. I found that doing a lot of baton passes and having certain characters kill different number of enemies really helped. Good luck!
Next update/edition/whatever could really use an option to designate a persona in your stock as your "primary" persona that automatically equips after every battle finishes. Would cut down on a ton of menu time equipping whichever persona you created specifically for its start-of-battle skills. (Invigorate, Auto-Ma-, etc.)
Next update/edition/whatever could really use an option to designate a persona in your stock as your "primary" persona that automatically equips after every battle finishes. Would cut down on a ton of menu time equipping whichever persona you created specifically for its start-of-battle skills. (Invigorate, Auto-Ma-, etc.)
There's an option in the menu that lets you turn off Persona memory. You'll start the battle with the same Persona every time, not the one you used last.
You pretty much have to. But you can just pull him back.
Other options are too high level when the tutorial hits. I don't remember if you can grind at that point to avoid using Arsene.
My only gripe with that is you can't register him so you'll have to level him again. I guess it makes sense because he is the only one you can't "catch" in the wild.
Yes. Fuse all of the things. You can buy any persona you've ever had from the compendium at any time as long as you have the money. You can fuse him and re buy him immediately after if you really want. Money is really the only limiting factor
Persona 5 is the most complete and satisfying game Atlus has released in the Megaten franchise since Shin Megami Tensei III. It is a testament to Hashino's vision and determination that such a game pulled through all adversity and the management crisis Index suffered over the years. I'm glad the core modern Persona team is moving on to new ambitious projects, because after this I feel they have nothing to prove, and possibly much less left to say. This certainly feels like a culmination of over an decade of Atlus flavored games under the post-Okada creative teams. It embodies Persona. It embodies Megaten. It embodies the angry rebellious counter-culture tone in a modern Japan occult setting that fans have always loved.
Is Persona 5 a perfect game? Far from it. Does it have the best storyline, or the best gameplay, or the more interest themes in a modern Atlus game? Nope. Are the character designs and art direction the best Persona has ever been? Probably. Is the soundtrack a masterpiece? Maaaaaaybe after you buy a bunch of DLC to get more than one regular battle theme.
So why did the game resonate so strongly with me and why do I think it worked together so well? Because it is every bit what I want and expect out of a Persona game, infused with more inspiration from Shin Megami Tensei and Devil Summoner than before, and the team has put in conscious effort to elevate every aspect of the base systems which they introduced in Persona 3. It is impossible for me as a longtime fan not to recognize and appreciate the monumental effort put into making Persona 5 a game by fans for fans. Where it lacks finer quality, it makes up for in sheer satisfaction. While there have been many great RPGs from Atlus over the years since SMT3, I feel Persona 5 is the first sequel of this sort in forever to truly feel like a huge step up of an already good foundation without reinventing the wheel, and that really has to be acknowledged. It's something I didn't feel from Persona 4, Devil Survivor 2, Shin Megami Tensei 4, Raidou 2, or any of the Etrain Odyssey sequels. It has been forever since we've seen Atlus go all out on a console title with little compromise with regards to what they are capable of in production values and scale, and this is the result. Bravo.
I think a lot of people have probably covered the pros and cons of the game in "objective" ways and discussed to death what overall works and what fell short in the title. So since this is a personal take, I'll talk about the stuff I really loved in the game and the stuff I didn't like and felt they could have done better, in terms of how they affected me and my enjoyment while playing the game. There will be spoilers which I will mark but assume that anything blocked off as a spoiler is a spoiler for the entire game.
The first thing the struck my about the game is how relentlessly angry it feels. This is not a game made by people satisfied by the way things have been going. It is incredibly timely for today's society, even outside of Japan. I have no doubt much of this anger isn't just political, but informed by the personal struggles Atlus staff had to go through over the years. That tone really drives the entire game and I think it worked brilliantly. This is a game about young people struggling with acceptance, but in the face of that, they also find out how twisted, unfair, and broken the world really is. Things which should be left to adults who know better, a society that should be built on the understanding that those who have experience and responsible must work to create better environments for future generations. These things are all broken in the Persona 5 setting - much like how they are broken in the world today. It takes the rebellious nature of teenagers who have had enough, using occult powers representing noble criminals in fiction, to fight back and change the world by force. The concept is so ridiculous, so naive and simplistic, and feels like a huge protest fantasy made for angry young people today to let off steam. I feel the world needs more of this, because ultimately, behind all the fantasy, the message in the game is that every individual has to take the first step to make a stand, and that only people who make up the world can change the world. Nothing is set in stone and things which are bad "because they are" only stay that way because people think so. This game pulls no punches, and I love it for that.
In terms of the gameplay though things aren't entirely as rosy. It's still extremely satisfying, and doesn't drag the game down much for me, but I found myself more frequently disappointed by little things which could have made what is a great experience into total perfection instead. The biggest flaw in the gameplay is probably how easy it is. Not just as a Megaten game, but as a videogame in general, Persona 5 on Normal difficulty is a total cakewalk. This is a game which gives the players tons of options to augment their advantages - from the multitude of really useful Confidant skills to the increased party member passive and active abilities, the addition of demon negotiation on top of that simply stacks all the odds against the enemies in the game. There is usually a bell curve when it comes to Megaten difficulty, and the tension in the middle portion of the games make battles really exciting. In Persona 5 it is more like a pure downhill slope. The only thing preventing this from being a disappointment that has a huge impact is how fun battles still are even when feeling overpowered, owing a lot to the polished presentation.
Now the Confidant system itself. I'm kinda torn. I love what they did with it in terms of integrating it with the entire game. Never before in Persona have I felt that all the social gameplay ties directly to battles, furthering other aspects of social gameplay, and even directly into the story with regards to how the characters you meet fit in. These are no longer friends you make along the way who you might be able to date, these are characters who represent other sides of the main story theme, to reinforce the oppression and failure of the world, and why the Phantom Thieves must do what they do. Every non-party character Confidant is not just someone to hang out with, they are literally confidants, accomplices, supporters, and victims. In past Persona games the social aspects have always been somewhat disconnected, here they feel like so much more. They are the faces of the very people among the masses who you fight to reform. Each story tells a tale of societal failures and people who slipped through the cracks. They become the motivation to carry on at the very end. So with all that emotional weight behind it, I'm somewhat sad that instead of building on the hooks Persona 3 originally had, they carried on with the pandering self-satisfying design philosophy of Persona 4. Only you the main character can design which girls (and only girls) you have a relationship with. You can have relationships with multiple girls with little consequence. None of them will break up with you. Everything is a one way relationship to boaster the ego of the player. It definitely undermines the intent of the system for me, and I hope that when freed from the chains of Persona's popularity among the otaku crowd, this creative team can offer something more interesting in their next game with regards to social simulation systems. Without the possibility of failure or consequence, victory is somewhat hollow. But I'll still take a hollow victory with Makoto (aka Best Girl Forever) over anything with Chie (aka Worst Girl Ever).
I'll finish up with story and dungeon stuff but these are all spoilers from here on out.
This was probably the biggest surprise for me. After Persona 4 went in a happier direction with a carefree cast and a more relaxed setting, I thought for sure they would be doubling down on that further given how popular it was. Imagine to my surprise when Persona 5 turned out to be in every sense the successor of Persona 3 instead, with shades of Persona 2. Angry young people, an actual team formed to illegally fight injustice through threat of force, sexual harassment, suicide, criminal corruption, political injustice, police brutality, ooooooooooh boy. From the start the game hooked me and never let me go. Any game which lets you fight the future Prime Minister of Japan as he strips off his top to take you on with muscles of steel is a game worth RISING up for.
I didn't expect ANY of the stuff after Shido though, and that's when the story went from already being really good to the peak of all Persona. The Velvet Room "twist" was pure fanservice done right, and the Holy Grail is the touch of Megaten that Persona has sorely lacked for a while. I think out of all of Hashino's games, this one most clearly personifies his obsession with the fool's journey. And that's how it felt for me as a player. The game was one long journey, but in the end you attain the greatest prize of all - true happiness. Happiness that Atlus is back at the top of their game. Happiness that Japan isn't the wretched failure of game development that it seemed from the last half decade. Happiness that Persona once again has true anger and fire in it. Happiness that I could press a button and watch a giant demon lord Persona the size of a building strike down a mecha god by shooting him in the face. What a ride.
The last shoutout really has to go to the dungeons. It took real balls to not pick the easy route of having a big random dungeon and actually hand crafting 8 themed dungeons with wildly creative settings, proper puzzles, all dripping with metaphors. I didn't find any of them too long. I didn't find them frustrating or annoying. The only problem with the dungeons in Persona 5 in my opinion, is that they were too good. Suck it haters.
tl;dr - Persona 5 is Hashino erecting a statue of honor to the Megaten franchise and we should all bow down like the sheep we are and worship at the altar of Atlus. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
If it makes you feel better, I spent the absolute bare minimum of time
wandering around Mementos with Goro, and I got the trophy not too far into the second last dungeon.
You're probably safe to move on I'd say. I found that doing a lot of baton passes and having certain characters kill different number of enemies really helped. Good luck!
Ah, thanks everyone. I'll go on ahead with the story now.
(side note: holy crap that Reaper flu season trick is great. The party went from level 53-54 to 59-60 when I finally got a fight with him Despaired. Probably going to bump up to Hard difficulty because of it.)
Is such a thing necessary and does it exist for Persona 5? I've been avoiding spoilers as much as I could, including not reading this thread very much, so I apologize if this came up before.
Damn that was a long fight. It wasn't difficult, but it certainly was an endurance test. Constantly keeping up buffs/debuffs, keeping everyone topped off, and getting in a couple hits here or there. Oddly enough I found the first phase to be the hardest, I was so happy when the physical repel went away.
Is such a thing necessary and does it exist for Persona 5? I've been avoiding spoilers as much as I could, including not reading this thread very much, so I apologize if this came up before.
Play the game -> Don't suck at the game -> Keep playing -> Answer a question correctly -> Keep playing -> Answer another question correctly -> Go finish the game already.
Is such a thing necessary and does it exist for Persona 5? I've been avoiding spoilers as much as I could, including not reading this thread very much, so I apologize if this came up before.
Is such a thing necessary and does it exist for Persona 5? I've been avoiding spoilers as much as I could, including not reading this thread very much, so I apologize if this came up before.
Play the game -> Don't suck at the game -> Keep playing -> Don't be a dick to your friends -> Keep playing -> Don't be a selfish jerk -> Go finish the game already.
Duckroll's review reminded me that I never actually posted my rating of the game.
After completing it twice, getting that Platinum trophy and experiencing everything the game had to offer there's only one score I can give that I feel it truly deserves.
10/10. Easily one of the best games I've ever played.
The only notable downside to the game is that it can make you feel like shit after you finish it. That post game depression is no joke.
Someone needs to start a support group or something
How I felt after finishing P5 is completely different from any other game I've played. It's my first Persona game, so maybe they all have that effect, but there's still something seriously special about it. Prolly something to do with the length; P5 is perhaps the longest it's taken me to finish a game, and it's quite a feat when considering the near-total lack of side content (fetch quests, kill X whatevers, etc). Sure, confidants and activities are technically optional, but in a different way - it's not about choosing whether or not you even want to do something, but rather choosing which specific things to prioritize. That the game can maintain such a long length with damn near every in-game day having value, but without the typical RPG padding impresses the hell out of me.
I feel totally different. Beating Persona 5 made me feel relieved. Because now I can go back to playing FFXIV HW, and actually start Nier Automata. The 2017 backlog is real, and it's REAL GOOD.
