Hi guys, I thought I'd post my thoughts on Persona 5 so far. As most of you will know, I don't speak Japanese, so I won't be posting anything in regards to writing or characters.
I think the best way to start is to say that my thoughts are overwhelmingly positive. I'm 15 hours in at this point, and just starting the second dungeon, and it's just making me realise how I'd needed a new Persona game. There have been other games that have tried to emulate what Persona does, but nothing does it like this.
First off, the visuals: This game looks gorgeous. Techincally, it's far from the best. Textures are sometimes blurred, and characters and monsters could often use more physical geometry, but it doesn't matter, because when you're playing it, it looks wonderful. One thing they've captured excellently is Soejima's colour pallette. Due to previous limitations, past games didn't even try and emulate the pallette that Soejima uses, but here it's spot on. It's most noticeable in scenes like the hideout menu, where the camera is in a posed position and you're forced to stop and take in what's on screen.
Another thing I love is the new eye cut-ins that occur during dialogue scenes. There's a decent number of them, and for a surprising amount of characters. They're partly animated, and used to punctuate more extreme reactions, and work really well.
The move to full cutscenes for significant story moments is also much appreciated. Anne's awakening scene and the first boss are great examples of scenes that just weren't possible on the previous games. It's also just nice to see P-Studio creating something of this fidelity.
Whilst we're talking animations, it's worth mentioning the detail on the animations in Persona 5. The animations themselves are fine. Good, even. The part that really impresses me, though, is the attention to detail in them. When Anne sits in at a coffee shop booth, she sits down and slides over, as opposed to the screen fading in and out and her being sat down. When Joker leaves the coffee shop in the morning, he turns the "CLOSED" sign over to say "OPEN". There's loads of small touches of the characters interacting with the world in a physical way, which is something that games at large are bad at.
Next, we'll talk gameplay. Easily the biggest improvement alongside the visuals. For years, people have said that Persona's dungeons would be better if they were designed rather than generated, and, well, they were right. Dungeon gameplay is a step up like you wouldn't believe. The first dungeon is fun and interesting to explore. It looks gorgeous too. There are several sections to the dungeon as it progresses, and it really does put it so far ahead of previous games. Again, the better hardware also means that visually, the dungeons look much better.
Stealth is functional, if a little janky. Incredibly shallow, but it's fine when it works. There's been a couple of times when I've gotten stuck and been seen as a result, or not been able to move into the cover that I wanted to. Stealth attacks work better than any alternative pre-emptive attack system I've seen in other JRPGs though, and even if it's flawed, I think you can only really hold it against its contemporaries.
Battles are... mostly the same. The presentation has been spruced up, and it definitely looks and feels a lot more modern, but the One More system is almost entirely the same. Baton touch is nice, but it isn't a game changer. It's mostly useful for conserving that precious, precious SP.
Demon Negotiation is fine. The music should cut in negotiation rather than Hold Up, but that's a small gripe. The hostage system, however, is complete horse shit and should be removed. It happens randomly(but rarely) when an enemy hits a single one of your team's weakness, and then they ask for money, health, items etc. to give you your party member back. It's genuinely really bad, but so far, it at least hasn't shown up much. I really don't get why it's in there. It's not something you can avoid (being linked to the weakness system) and it adds absolutely nothing of value.
In regards to Mementos dungeons, they're fine. The second you go into one, it's like going back to the old Persona games. Which I'm fine with. And from a gameplay perspective, they're actually pretty good. Unfortunately, they're brought down somewhat by a really ugly design to them (nothing says fun like driving through mouldy train tunnels for a an hour!) and the backing music to them is INCREDIBLY repetitive. Maybe they'll get more interesting, and maybe the music will change as they go on, but a more pleasing aesthetic and a backing track that doesn't loop after fifteen seconds would have definitely made them feel more enjoyable.
Also the Catbus is a complete waste of time. Like, it's fine, but it adds nothing, and hilariously, removes you're ability to sprint (or boost, as it would probably be), so you actually end up moving slower than normal dungeons. It doesn't ruin anything though. It's more just "Why bother?".
The last thing I'll mention is the soundtrack. Overall, very good. The Mementos theme is the only one so far that I dislike. I will say it's probably not as strong as Persona 4's soundtrack, and the lack of vocal tracks feels like a shame. It's almost ambient in a way though. Very understated.
One thing I really like is that certain tracks are established for certain moments. The song that plays during Awakening scenes is really, really brilliant, as is the sub-boss theme. I do wish they'd gotten a singer whose English was better, however. Lynn's voice is good, but her pronunciation seems like a step back from even Shihoko Hirata, with some tracks verging on incomprehensible.
Anyway, overall, it's a really, really good game so far.
It's definitely a Persona game.