I'm honestly not usually one to criticize reviews but docking points from a review because the game isn't playable on a portable system seems absurd to me. She literally says "my only issue is [I can't play this game on the go]" and then gives it an 85 despite that being her "only issue"? I mean seriously wtf is that?
I played Persona 4, didn't finish it though. I was thinking about giving 5 a shot, but 90-100 hours to finish is a lot. I don't have that kind of time to dedicate to one game. I've had Horizon since the day it released and I've put about 16 hours into it.
Persona 5 wears progressive values on its sleeves, which makes its approach to non-straight romance all the more baffling. Joker can choose to start a relationship with every single female party member and non-player confidant in the game; none of the men are romanceable. This is despite the fact that one of the male party members is heavily implied to be at least bisexual, claiming to have no interest in the female form outside of art and often interacting with Joker in a flirty manner.
The lack of same-sex relationship options in Persona 5 would be little more than a frustrating omission, but the game pushes it into much more aggravating territory in a few scenes. Specifically, there are two recurring gag characters who are clearly homosexual. They show up at a couple of points throughout the game specifically to act effeminate and stereotypical, and to freak out Ryuji by flirting with him. Essentially, some of Persona 5s only examples of queer characterization are there as a terrible joke.
Sounds really off-putting, especially the second paragraph :/
I disagree strongly with the first paragraph and agree completely with the second. Is that weird? JRPG characters are never meant to be your representation they are a character you follow.
Every game stands on it's own. Each one has a new cast, location and antagonist. There are a few connecting threads between the games, but most are thematic. This is a great time to jump in.
Thanks for the replies! I might need to check this out down the road. Currently playing BotW, but I haven't played a good JRPG in ages. The Persona series appears to have a good rep.
I disagree strongly with the first paragraph and agree completely with the second. Is that weird? JRPG characters are never meant to be your representation they are a character you follow.
The amazing and absolutely mind blowing fact to me is that Yakuza 0 would have probably been my GOTY last year but it's probably going to finish outside of the top 5 this year. And last year was pretty damn great.
I haven't played it yet, but I have a feeling it will be my GOTY.
Persona 4 was the best RPG in the past decade and I think this will help move Persona along for another decade (as in, Persona 5 will be the best RPG for the next following decade).
After giving it a little more thought, I suppose I'm alright with calling it out in a review. I wasn't at first. People should at least be aware of it.
I think its great that in America we have a fairly progressive attitude towards many things, LGBT issues included. I have a hard enough time taking care of myself let alone worrying about what other people are doing.
However, I do think its wrong to expect that everyone in the world shares those progressive views.
Persona 5 wears progressive values on its sleeves, which makes its approach to non-straight romance all the more baffling. Joker can choose to start a relationship with every single female party member and non-player confidant in the game; none of the men are romanceable. This is despite the fact that one of the male party members is heavily implied to be at least bisexual, claiming to have no interest in the female form outside of art and often interacting with Joker in a flirty manner.
The lack of same-sex relationship options in Persona 5 would be little more than a frustrating omission, but the game pushes it into much more aggravating territory in a few scenes. Specifically, there are two recurring gag characters who are clearly homosexual. They show up at a couple of points throughout the game specifically to act effeminate and stereotypical, and to freak out Ryuji by flirting with him. Essentially, some of Persona 5s only examples of queer characterization are there as a terrible joke.
Sounds really off-putting, especially the second paragraph :/
Yeah, I just read that. It's actually not as bad as I feared (relatively speaking), but I think a lot of it depends on how the other characters treat them.
I remember feeling my stomach actually turn during Yosuke's extreme prolonged homophobia towards Kanji at certain moments, but the localization did a good job of at least letting Yu be accepting of him.
I think a lot of responsibility is placed in the hands of the localization team to try to massage the tone into something more socially palatable to a western audience, and I hope they did the best they can on it, given the circumstances.
P4G was a port of a home console game, and we've known for literally years that P5 wasn't coming to portable. It's very weird to call out in the review imo.
I think the homophobia point is totally valid, but after the messy as hell Zelda, Mass Effect, Horizon, and NieR review threads I think we should collectively take a chill pill and avoid derailing the thread lol
She's critiquing the game itself not the platform it's on and even allowing for such criticism having a preference of playing something in a portable shouldn't be sufficient to dock 15 points off a score since she said that's the "only thing" she has against it. She basically turned a review into a port begging article instead of a software critique. Her complaint has nothing to do with the software and everything to do with the fact that she wants to play it outside her home. How is that a reasonable flaw to criticize the game for?
"Man... 93... disappointing."
"NO WAIT! 94?!?!? Nevermind then!!"
In fact, I have to believe the constant ballwashing over Metacritic scores around here is just one big inside joke I'm not in on.
Actual written reviews and the substance within those reviews seems a lot more important to me. That, IMO, is a better way to determine if a game is worth your time and money than just seeing a number. I mean, one of my favorite PS2 games, Rule of Rose, has a score of 59. If I would have passed on that simply based on the score I would have missed out on a game that had a pretty powerful impact on me... but I digress.
On topic: Next week can't get here fast enough. As a 'newer' Persona fan (started with Persona 3 FES about four years ago) I haven't had to endure what was likely a torturous wait for longtime Persona fans. Happy to hear the long wait was worth it.
I think the homophobia point is totally valid, but after the messy as hell Zelda, Mass Effect, Horizon, and NieR review threads I think we should collectively take a chill pill and avoid derailing the thread lol
(as in, Persona 5 will be the best RPG for the next following decade).
