List of mods I used available on my pastebin post here. I should also note that “Mastered” in my case means getting all the achievements, leaving out a handful of Thieves Den Awards that become active or otherwise easier to nab in NG+.

For an RPG I heavily played well over a month, fresh and pampered from revisiting Persona 3 in its original and remade form prior, as well as the hot button topic it’s become over the years, you'd expect I'd have a lot to say about Persona 5 Royal. Well... I don't, really. All I can think about in my sleep deprived state is how my 200+ hour venture - and that's generously ignoring inflated idle times Steam's counter acclimates - is how woefully underwhelming the package was save for a few bright spots, and how dispassionately apathetic I became after finally finishing and scouring out for the light.

It’s funny I mentioned my time investment a bit off the heels of a discord within FF7 Rebirth’s activities and planning, cause it should be mentioned (and emphasized) that it’s actually pretty easy to focus and fine-tune your palette into whatever it is you desire. No one except yourself, and perhaps foolish pride, is forcing you to do all of those activities after all, unless they’re particularly easy to nab off the beaten path. That is, of course, neglecting the key component: the focal point where all points are stitched and huddled around, an area P5R constantly falters over. Already saw a flashback sequence? Fret not, you’re gonna be subjugated to it not 10 minutes after. Got a good grasp of the ongoings of the story, be it by themes or event details? Alright, but you’re gonna have to bear the condescending attitude as you watch the character(s) exposit these things anyway. Grew a form of investment over a beat and how it unfolds before and during the main show? Slow your roll there bucko, you haven’t heard about the overly unnecessary and outright damaging undercurrent that ruins it! Sure, it sounds like hyperbole, and as you go along many of these detriments are either quelled or nulled, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re present, nor does it alleviate their weight of bloat and the meekish presentation of what are honestly some pretty simple themes. The fact it took my entire first session of play to get to the initial true Free Time event on the 18th, whereas P3 - both versions, might I add - give me that freedom within just a few short hours and P4 just about half of this, is appalling.

The writing woes extend to the Phantom Thieves themselves, which I suppose isn’t a Hot Take or anything since there’s been a bit of a debate surrounding them over the years. To dispel some common points, I don’t believe the notion that they are “centered” around Joker - on the contrary, not only is this running along the recurring theme of “kinship through displacement”, there’s already a bit of an established line between Ann and Ryuji, Futaba and Sojiro, and, though faint and dubious, Makoto and Haru. As a group, there’s a rather believable sense of friendship and camaraderie developed and finalized throughout the course of the story amidst the hustle and bustle of urban civilization, which is a bit of a surprise since I was pessimistically expecting the opposite. What did come true, unfortunately, is the lack of individualism and the expression that's delivered from it. The handling of Ann and Haru are criticized enough that I don’t think I can add anything to the former’s blobby mold of an archetype and hypocritical implementation of her supposed freedom of self-expression, and the latter’s seed of growth taken away due to the already mentioned bloat plaguing the game; same with Ryuji and how his (great) Social Link about reliance on others and strength through teamwork is routinely undermined by him being treated as a joke within the main cutscenes. Futaba is ostensibly headcanoned as one under the Autism umbrella, and while the intent is competently delivered and well-handled, the amount of #GAMER allusions are poor and clumsily handled, leading to a bumpy state of her psyche. Yusuke, who’s SL arc revolves around the dichotomy of man and their drive of passion within the hobbyist and professional mindset, is often treated as The Quirky Oddball One of the group with superficial understanding as to what art is since they did this like, twice before I guess and believed third time is truly the charm, which is also why they made Morgana have the same arc as Teddie and Aigis but without any of the things that made those two compelling. Of the group, Makoto is the one with the fewest weights holding her down; her arc is straightforward, explored to its fullest in her SL with little downplay within the narrative, and her importance in the group is always front and center. Her straight-edge nature can be too plain at times, granted, as are her connecting points regarding resolve and resolution, but compared to everyone else? It’s way easier to swallow. To reiterate, however, my main issue isn’t with the characters themselves, honestly I only truly despise Morgana and his obnoxious (albeit small in intensity) demeanor - it’s just kind of hard to truly feel connected with the group when the game seems to treat them more so as dolls for amusement than actual people, something even P4 never fully succumbed to during its outing.

I kind of wish I had more to say, really, cause it’s not as if I totally hate P5R or anything. There’s some good bits in here, like the full exploration of escapism as a theme finally being done here thanks to the “Royal” part of the game desperately giving the endgame a sense of closure, some of the non-essential confidants like Hifumi, Mishima, Chihaya and Yoshida being great to explore despite the drawbacks, and the superbosses being a fair bit of fun to go over. But, like, I’m not really sure what more I can add unfortunately. I’d sort of just be repeating common talking points and, compounded by the fact I’m facing burnout from both writing and my aforementioned time allocation, it just feels fruitless to go over? Like I don’t want to be the umpteenth mouthpiece going over how ridiculously easy this game is even excluding Merciless’ baffling(ly hilarious) modifiers pertaining to player favor and the constricted dungeon design making it so that ambushes are a rare, if ever present, occurrence one can face, cause everyone already discussed that. Did you know that, even in the original team, there were some Etrian Odyssey battle planners? Really makes me wonder how the hell it ended up so milquetoast in engagement, dungeon layout, and the us v them nature of gameplay routing when EO1’s first two stratums already had more going on. It’s also why I’m hardpressed to mention my adoration with Third Semester, cause I can’t quite word it in a way that isn’t already brought up by the people, what with Maruki, Akechi, and Kasumi being the ethos, pathos, and logos of Joker’s - and by principle, Yuki and Narukami’s - Wild Card slot and the reflection they face should his life be altered ever so slightly. I dunno man, it’s like… expansion aside, this is the RPG that got a lot of people into the genre now? The Atlus mega-hit? I’m a lot cooler on the problems than others seem to be, and I wouldn’t cynically berate others over this cause that’s stupid and rude, but it does leave me scratching my head and wondering what else I had missed in my long, long journey as an urbanite Fool.

YOU’LL NEVER SEE IT COMINGGGGGG!
I will start this review by saying that Persona 5 Royal is my favourite game of all time. I played this game during COVID and I had a blast with it, to the point where I’ve already played the game four whole times (as I’m writing this review). This is the game that got me into Persona and SMT, and for that I will forever cherish this game as one of my favourites. Gotta thank my friends who told me to try this game, and they were not wrong when they said THIS GAME IS PEAK.

Now let’s talk about the story. This will be spoiler free of course, and these will just be my overall thoughts on the story. The game starts really strong in the first arc (even if the biggest slog of the game is to survive the tutorial that goes on FOREVER). Honestly, this game probably has the most memorable first arc out of any game that I’ve played, it’s just so good. Although the game does start to fall off afterwards, it does peak during a couple of the arcs, and I think the game truly does peak after the late mid-game where everything just becomes peak. I didn’t play the original Persona 5, so the Third Semester was a great part to add in order to flesh out several characters that really needed it. Not to mention, it gave us a great antagonist. Honestly, I have no complaints about the story, in fact, I kind of wish it was longer because I loved this game and wanted more and more and more story, and I ended up having post-game depression after completing the game.

Characters tend to make or break a game, and considering how character-heavy the Persona series is because of the social sim aspect, I think it does a great job at handling characters. I can confidently say that in the entirety of the game (well besides the antagonists but I do think they make great antagonists because they fill their roles so well), there is only one character that I despise with all of my might, and you meet them in like the first hour of the game. Yeah, some of the NPCs are annoying, but that’s about it. I love the Phantom Thieves as a group, and they all have their different quirks that really make the theme of the game stand out even more. The various characters that the protagonist has are Confidants are also explored deeply through their social links, and I actually care about the majority of them, barring like one or two exceptions, who are mediocre at best. Overall, this game has an excellent cast of characters.

Speaking of Confidants, I just like how they give you different services and abilities to use both in and outside of combat, as well as in Tokyo in general. They make the game much more enjoyable. Some of them also have really great storylines, while some flop and fall pretty meh. However, most of them are great.

I don’t usually talk about graphics because they don’t influence my decision to play games, but I just need to talk about the overall graphics and style of the game. This game pops. From the stylish menu, to the great GUI, I love this game. I can never get over the menu screen and I’ll always love it. The graphics aren’t much, but they’re serviceable for this type of game, especially when they aren’t the focal point of this games success anyways.

Going from style to music. This game is just filled with bangers. Each dungeon has some great background music, and even the regular exploration theme for Tokyo in the forms of Tokyo Daylight and Tokyo Emergency are just such bangers. Not to mention the many battle themes: Last Surprise, Takeover, Rivers in a Desert, Will Power, and probably all the battle themes, they’re all just straight bops. I can’t forget the school music also just being a straight bop. Alas, I can’t end this section without talking about Beneath the Mask which is in my opinion the best OST in the game. I remember when I used to just leave it on in the background when I studied for exams, it was great.

Now I want to talk about gameplay. This game is notoriously known for being easy, especially on the hardest difficulty, where for some reason, attacks that knock down enemies deal x3 the damage. So, if you want the true challenging experience, play on Hard. Besides that, this game was my first introduction to SMT combat (even though it’s a simplified form). The concept of demon fusing was interesting to me, and the game only added more things to do with the demons you collect. Various skills like physical attacks, magical attacks, buffs, debuffs, status ailments, healing, walls, reflections, and even skills that activate on their own, this game has them all. I love the level of customisation you have with the different varieties of demons that are separated via Arcana, and how you can pass on skills from previous personas onto the new persona. I always spend so much time in the velvet room just fusing away to make even more powerful personas. Demon fusing aside, I want to talk about the actual gameplay. I enjoy the 1 More system, but that and all-out attacks just make the game so so easy. And to top it off even more, baton passing is just utterly broken. I enjoy how confidants give the party members different abilities in combat, and even some of them make things like grinding tolerable. I love the gameplay in this game, but it can be easily abused.

Now, I want to talk about the elephant in the room, which is Mementos. Just to avoid spoilers, it’s essentially your grindy dungeon. I HATE MEMENTOS REQUESTS and mementos in general. I hate being forced to go into mementos, it’s so annoying. Each area starts to look exactly the same, and there are rarely any changes that make me excited to go to mementos. Thank god for one of the confidant abilities that allow you to insta-kill enemies and claim the rewards, otherwise I probably would’ve set the game to Easy mode to avoid grinding. I am not a fan of randomly generating dungeons that have multiple floors, and I think this is one of the weakest aspects of an otherwise outstanding game.

Overall, THE GAME IS PEAK! Please consider playing the game, even if turn-based combat doesn’t seem to be your style, you never know, you might find a fan favourite series!

Confidant who is hyperfocused on burning ants: Alright Joker... it's a deal then... I'll be your ant burning friend from here on out
*flashback animation*
My sexy hag prosecutor: You must have had some kind of insect combustion expert on your team.. who was it!! TALK!!!!
Me, popping a stiffy so hard I'm about to pass out: i think i hauve mental shutdown syndrome

Great game, ultimately still strictly worse than the other 2 modern Personas if you care about anything else than presentation. Concept is great - who doesn't love silly Lupin heists? The story immediately drills into the core of Planet slop at the start of the Medjed arc and doesn't recover for more than brief moments of JRPG cheese (I like the gooey cheese though). All the Social Links (that's what they're called man) are pretty good, but none are really great unless it's like the two that I missed. The soundtrack? It's great. The UI? Okay this might get assassins sent after me but to me it's very busy for a UI and I think it's a bit overrated in terms of being the be all end all of design for that reason. It is beautiful though.

I really like the additions to the combat system, despite it all feeling a bit overtuned - I died like three times in my entire playthrough and 2 of them were due to not having high enough damage and 1 of them was me nuking myself on a reflect. The baton passing, extra elements and Social Link buffs really help One More stand out as Not Just Press Turn But Worse (it still is worse, but you know, it helps, and it's fun).

Honestly after P3 the whole time management system and Social Links kinda feels tacked on to the other Persona games. Like it was meant for that game in particular and makes total sense with the theme whereas here they are just... systems that surround a JRPG. If that makes any sense. If I'm crazy you can shoot me in the head.

I stopped at the third semester. "Why"? I shouldn't have to justify that. Why didn't you? You should explain yourself. The story is over. If you continued to play for 30 hours you don't care about story do you? You don't give a shit about storytelling at all. You just care about characters and seeing them interact in little set pieces. You're a poser. You just want to play with dolls in your head because the cast functions as premade OCs for your fanfiction when you can't write your own. You're having the Phantom Thieves step in for real relationships in your life. You're pathetic. Sorry.. sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. Forgive me.

Nitpicky Rant Minor Spoiler Asshole Lightning Round:
- I think JRPG creators have realized 60% of people only play the first act and that's why a lot of modern JRPGs are frontloaded nosedive halfway in. Much research to be done here.
- Morgana has decided 30% of my nights simply can't be used for anything
- Please do not give me insanely overpowered DLC items for no reason you crazy bastards
- Why are we still pretending Persona protagonists can be self insert? Please just name him next time. He's stuck in this weird limbo where he's an unvoiced blank slate but also randomly will have lines. Give it up Atlus.
- Could not fuck Akechi Goro
- Morgana cat form? Cute. Cuddly. What a little guy. Love him. Morgana Metaverse form? I'm going to kick him over a building.
- Ban all localization from saying "kek"
- Having the optional dungeon turn mandatory in the final act is insane, it didn't affect me but for those it did I am so sorry
- The in media res flashback structure contributes absolutely nothing other than to do a "Ohhh I actually forgot crucial details" plot twist, it's basically just there to be there
- "The Councillor" Tarot? Really? Come on.
- The final dungeons(s) are basically completely disconnected from the theming of the rest of the game which makes them seem really out of nowhere and lame
- Like 3-4 instances of Japanese being spoken but no subs anywhere. "Just play in English" Haha, no, obviously. Don't be fucking stupid
- Demon negotiation is actually just SMT But Lame
- We have yet to find a good way to hide elemental weaknesses and then show them later and this is no exception

God, what an experience.
I’ve been wanting to play Persona 5 for a LONG time now. I first became interested in the game from Joker being added to Smash Ultimate and being mesmerised by the game’s artstyle and music. Only problem was that P5 was a Playstation exclusive and I only had a Switch back then. Few years later, it’s announced that the modern Persona trilogy would be re-releasing on all modern platforms. I went ahead and wishlisted all the games on Steam as I thought that if I enjoyed P5, I would probably play the other games to. And that leads us to today, after I played Persona 3 and 4 earlier this year and finally played Persona 5 Royal after waiting all these years. And it was incredible.
First, I would like to go through all of my negatives with this game as I’d rather end this review on a positive note than a negative one. First issue I have is the cast of characters. This is by far the weakest cast of any of the Persona games I’ve played. This isn’t me saying they’re bad characters but they feel a lot more one-note than previous casts and they don’t really bounce off with each other like previous casts as well. It feels less like a friend group and more a group of people who happen to know each other through the MC. My other negative is that, just like Persona 4 Golden, it is painfully obvious when the original game was supposed to end and where the new content was added. I would’ve much preferred if the new content was more smoothly transitioned to from the main game.
And thats it. Those are pretty much all my negatives for this game. Onto the positives.
The story this game presents you with is incredible. There’s so many twists and turns and, despite having probably one of the biggest cast of main characters in a Persona game, each one get their own time to shine and go through their own arcs. The gameplay is the smoothest and cleanest the series has ever been, bringing back the series’s staple mechanics like the One More system and weaknesses to adding in completely new mechanics that add more strategy to the gameplay like Baton Passes, Negotiations, Gun damage, etc. This is also by far the most stylish Persona game with it’s UI. Everything pops with the game’s gorgeous artstyle with loads of detail being put into every part of the UI that makes the game a joy to look at. I also love the addition of the Phantom Thieves suits/costumes, it helps make each character that more unique and really helps exemplify their personalities. Another great thing about this game is the personalised dungeons (now named Palaces) return from Persona 4 but are even better now with them being fully designed dungeons that you actually can truly explore instead of randomly generated rooms each floor. The Palaces themselves are a treat to explore (except Okumura’s), with each having vivid imagery that gives you a great look into a character’s personality.
Persona 5 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is even the slightest bit interested as it is one of the best gaming experiences you can ever have.

I played about 40 hours of Persona 5 in 2019 before circumstances led to the loss of my PS4. Waiting for 5 and later Royal to come to PC, I purchased Persona 4 Golden and played about 20 hours. That game unfortunately was a poor substitute for this one and I failed to get into it, so purchasing and ultimately playing through this behemoth of a game has been an immensely rewarding experience. To be fair to Persona 4 Golden, that game offered me a lot of what I love about this one. The gameplay loop of Persona games is something I find incredibly immersive; living out a chunk of time day-by-day (in Royal's case a year), growing social stats and developing relationships while the plot unfolds. I was drawn in by the steady but marked pace of Royal and the organic character development of my confidants that truly felt earned over time. I love the Megami Tensei shared universe lore, Persona combat systems, creature collecting, and storytelling approach of both Royal and Golden, and yet Golden was still a poor substitute.

Persona 5 Royal stands apart from other Persona games, from other JRPGs, indeed from other games in general primarily on vibe. This game offers a total aesthetic adherence unmatched by any game I’ve played. The visual design from costuming to setting right down to UI, music (of course), character writing, plot, and yes, the pacing all come together to form one message that you’re familiar with if you’ve played: Take your time. For my money this is the perfect comfy game. In 2019 my Saturday routine was to wake up, make a big breakfast with a pot of coffee, watch a couple episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and play a few hours of Persona 5, a weekend routine that I long for now that my life doesn’t accommodate it.

These last weeks have been incredibly cozy, curling up with my Steamdeck and getting lost in the game’s world. Yes, it’s long, probably the longest I’ve spent on one completion of a non-roguelike singleplayer experience, but the length only serves to compliment the experience. There’s no rushing here, no panicking, no missing side content to mainline the story. The game takes over 100 hours no matter how you play, and for that time it fully immerses players in its world that oozes coolness and comfort while leveraging raw time investment to form meaningful relationships with characters and build an impressive plot that feels epic because of how much of the player’s actual life it takes to unfold, reminiscent of art like Sátántangó and Jeanne Dielman. Though the visual novel elements offer a superficial illusion of choice while leading down only one set path, they allow players to project their personality onto Joker which goes a long way to bolster immersion, and this game single handedly seeded my interest in visual and kinetic novels. Persona 5 Royal is the comfiest game I’ve ever played and probably the best JRPG I’ve ever played from a gameplay and story perspective, and it has given me characters that I know I will remember and think of forever. I love this game a lot!! Now onto P4G (again)!

Persona 5 Royal, released just three years after the original in Japan, is what Atlus defines as the ultimate version of the JRPG and is sold to you as such.
However, as digestible as they made the gameplay experience, I sincerely cannot see this as an improved version of what was Persona 5. Since its release, I've been going back and forth on this game, and it's become, perhaps, the most divided I've ever been about a videogame. Over 4 years later, this release haunts me, eating at my head to sit down and figure out just why I feel so dismissive of this game.

The gameplay has been grossly simplified and streamlined, starting with what is immediately apparent. Fights are easier, Persona fusion is much more accessible, inherent traits make Personas far more useful and worth keeping, technical damage is stupidly overpowered and over-rewarding, guns are no longer as limited as they used to be, network fusion is less of a coin toss, and much more.

In this sea of gameplay improvements, there are a few things to note as negative.

Persona fusion is simplified and aided by the presence of “Fusion Alarms”. At random times, often more than you’d think, the Velvet Room will enter a state of “alarm”. During this sequence, fusion will be considerably more rewarding and unique, often yielding results that are insanely beneficial, and not in a particularly balanced way. Even if your fusion ends up botched, you’ll get excellent fusion fodder that you can use to build whatever you’d like. On paper, this sounds fun, and for the first few moments it truly is, until it starts to get redundant and hand-holding, completely disallowing the game to pick up in difficulty even up to the very end. Fusion Alarms are FREQUENT, way, way too much. In a JRPG, it’s simply not fun to melt anything in your way because the game throws what’s optimal at you, and you’d need to be seriously stupid to not pick up what it’s giving you or to find yourself in a situation where you’ll have to do some serious fusion planning.

Technical damage is much more rewarding than simply striking a weakness, and this makes complete sense. What doesn’t, however, is just how devastating landing a technical is. This ends up making Merciless a cakewalk with the increased weakness damage, which in and of itself is an already deceivingly easy difficulty.

On the gameplay side, this is all I can really complain about. Other than that, it’s worth noting just how much more digestible a game it’s become. The grapple hook allows for some creative and fresh detours, and the added free time makes the whole game feel a little less strict. There’s something to note about the inherent traits as well, as well as how party members start with Baton Pass rather than earning it.

If Royal’s only issues lay in the gameplay, I would’ve loved this game to bits, despite how permissive it was. But as I went on and on, the game started to weigh me down, confuse me, and irritate me.

Palace after palace, going through the motions, you’ll start to feel something off, especially if you’ve played the original game.

Persona 5 Royal doesn’t feel like Persona 5, and you can cut the two apart so well that it’s disheartening. It’s right there that you start to realize that P5R isn’t an improvement; it’s an addition. It’s something separate from the original that doesn’t want to improve anything of its original self; it only seeks to grow until it’s entirely overtaken the flaws that were there, and it hopes to god you won’t notice that by the end, you’re playing a different game entirely.

The first disservice P5R does to its predecessor is how badly it waters down its aesthetic and artistic direction.

From the title screen, Persona 5 makes its aesthetic and style known almost immediately. “Phantom” starts playing; it's bass-heavy and jazzy; its sounds are deep and simple; and it stays subtle. You’re met with nine figures in red. The only thing that’s clear about them is their masks, and as a new player, it’s left entirely to your imagination what these characters will look like later on or what purpose they’ll serve within the game. The backdrop is a train station, and while it’s simple, it’s also so well represented that it makes these characters pop out so much more. This title screen is stylish and subtle; it knows what it’s doing, and it doesn’t need a lot of spectacle to get a message across.

Persona 5 also sports an excellent intro, which is only there to introduce some very surface-level information about these characters and show you what this game’s art style is about. The animation purposefully picks some very specific coloring, making some things pop more than others, and displaying these characters in an elegant, almost theatrical approach. Want to find out more? Play the game yourself. And every time you pass by that intro, you’re going to be thinking about the next party member, what they’ll be like, and what they’ll bring to the plot.

Persona 5 Royal takes a different approach, not only in its menu but also in its intro. “Colors Flying High” is fine on its own; it’s not a particularly good song, nor is it all that bad. It’s hard to match the energy and style of the original, and besides, Persona 4 Golden hadn’t really hit the same heights as its predecessor either. However, what’s really an issue is the opening animation itself, which not only has embarrassingly bad animation (compared to the original), but also (hilariously so) makes it its sworn duty to show you Ann’s ass as one of the first scenes, reinforcing one of the biggest disservices Persona 5 ever did to its characters. The rest of the intro is so forgettable that I had to watch it at least three times to even write this, and it loses direction once they just start... smashing shit? In their new winter outfits, no less, for some reason beyond me. It’s loud, flashy, and lacks direction.

Persona 5 Royal’s menu is another massive miss on my end. The secluded and mysterious subway station has been replaced with the bustling streets of Shibuya; our red figures now wear their whole ass outfits; and the music replacing “Phantom” is “Royal Days," a higher-pitched, more vivacious track. This track, just like the majority of the new additional OSTs, while fine on their own, always left me with the impression that they tried too hard. This doesn’t ease you into its aesthetic; it doesn’t leave you guessing either. This title screen and intro flaunt themselves so clumsily that they fall flat almost immediately. There’s an insurmountable lack of class and elegance, stuff that Persona 5 held. We’re talking about phantom thieves here, and the word “phantom” should be reflected in what I’m seeing pretty accurately; they lay low, they’re underground, there’s no need for this level of spectacle. They were in a subway station for a reason; they didn’t wear their Metaverse outfits for a reason.

P5R plays mostly the same as its original; very little is altered aside from gameplay, for better and for worse. The 3D models are still just as hideous as ever, with Kasumi and Maruki obviously being better made than the rest of the cast. Some of the errors in the English localization weren’t even addressed, and the new text options leave much to be desired. The Italian localization, for instance, bases itself off of the English script, and this is probably true for the rest of the other languages, and excuse me for not trusting the same localization team that gave us “This isn’t small potatoes.” and “Prosecutor turned lawyer.”. I don’t have to explain what losing things in translation is, but it happens quite often in Italian, with a fair share of horrendous misspellings too. I know Persona 5 has tons of text, but this isn’t and should never be an excuse for poor quality.

On the topic of plot, P5R disappoints me so greatly that it’s clear why it’s so engraved in my memory as one of the most saddening experiences I’ve had in gaming. To keep this as spoiler-free as I can, I’m going to speak vaguely but also very angrily.
A narrative that has nothing to do with the original premise of the game forgets to even make itself gray enough to give you a choice, and that is so deathly afraid of doing so that it forces you to make the “right” decision by offering you insanely high stakes. Bad ending content was cut, further showing just how incompetently the consequences of this ending were handled and how pointless the entire dilemma ends up being. Kasumi is a scapegoat for the plot, waifubait, and an overall bleak and uninteresting character.

Atlus and its formula of re-releases encourage a lazy, unhealthy, and deceitful practice of game development. Why buy this game when you can wait three years and play an “objectively” better version of it? The implication that the devs didn’t do their best this time, but they might later, or that they might get their grubby hands on something that was already flawed and glue shit on top, is simply disheartening.

It's outright a must play, it does suffer from some flaws though.

The pacing of the game gets brutally slow from time to time, in the form of uninteresting dialogue that just goes on and on about the same thing, and you know I mean it when that sometimes goes over for more than an hour. The lack of real interaction of the player on the dialogue only makes it worse, you have amazing gameplay interrupted by an hour of visual novel.

The other thing is the combat, I don't play many JRPGs because I don't enjoy mindless combat along the lines "push the button that gives the highest number", and Persona 5 is not like that... for maybe the first half of the game. Most of the cool strategies that you could aply earlier in the game get outshadow by "skill that does several damage", which sadly trivializes a rather good combat system.

I think it worth noting that I played the original P5, and that could be a reason to why the dialogue got even more boring for me or how I manage to optimize the combat so much. I would still recommend to play P5R if you enjoyed it the original, but give yourself some time in between.

Still, this game really good, it's not perfect, but that doesn't mean that it isn't one of the best JRPGs out there that you can enjoy even if it that ain't your genre.

Also, do not try to finish this game quickly, it is not meant to be played like that, you'll only get burnt out of it and end up hating it. Now go play it.