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’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 have my problems with Persona 5's bloated story, its cheesy and weak writing, the fact that the game peaks with the first palace narrative wise, the game's themes and messages being frequently contradicted to tell an unfunny joke or a strangely inappropriate sexual one, and the characters being done kind of dirty in the narrative many times. I don't think this game is a masterpiece as I once did back in 2018.
However, Persona 5 does more than enough to almost make you forget about its failings. Its got an absolute BANGER of a soundtrack, its style is unmatched, the characters are a joy to experience thanks to their great voice actors and good enough character writing, and the big one, the gameplay is MY JAM. What ultimately ends up saving P5 for me is the gameplay loop of thief by day, highschool student by night. While not all palaces hit the same high quality, it's still awesome to experience them. It's great to see what kind of narrative storytelling is done through these palaces to bolster their palace rulers, even if most are one dimensional baddies. I love the act of combat and recruiting demons to fight on my side. I love fusing personas and seeing what kind I need for the fights ahead. I love recruiting new party members because not only is it a new homie, but it's someone new that I can experiment with. I love planning my schedule to maximize my dungeon adventures and my time hanging out with some legitimately compelling characters. Both the social sim and dungeon crawling aspects of the game blend and complement each other beautifully.
Persona 5 gets a lot of stuff wrong, but it gets more than enough right to make this adventure still worth experiencing. Plus, this is the Royal edition, which makes some incredible QOL improvements and adds, and I'm not kidding here, the best section of the entire game. Even if it is at the end and extends this already bloated game.
Also! This PC port is great! Bit miffed about no ultrawide, and the 120fps cap is a bit annoying, but in the amount of time I've had with this version, it runs great on my gaming PC and on my Steam Deck.
Even though I sounded a bit negative, I still ultimately very much recommend this game!
However, Persona 5 does more than enough to almost make you forget about its failings. Its got an absolute BANGER of a soundtrack, its style is unmatched, the characters are a joy to experience thanks to their great voice actors and good enough character writing, and the big one, the gameplay is MY JAM. What ultimately ends up saving P5 for me is the gameplay loop of thief by day, highschool student by night. While not all palaces hit the same high quality, it's still awesome to experience them. It's great to see what kind of narrative storytelling is done through these palaces to bolster their palace rulers, even if most are one dimensional baddies. I love the act of combat and recruiting demons to fight on my side. I love fusing personas and seeing what kind I need for the fights ahead. I love recruiting new party members because not only is it a new homie, but it's someone new that I can experiment with. I love planning my schedule to maximize my dungeon adventures and my time hanging out with some legitimately compelling characters. Both the social sim and dungeon crawling aspects of the game blend and complement each other beautifully.
Persona 5 gets a lot of stuff wrong, but it gets more than enough right to make this adventure still worth experiencing. Plus, this is the Royal edition, which makes some incredible QOL improvements and adds, and I'm not kidding here, the best section of the entire game. Even if it is at the end and extends this already bloated game.
Also! This PC port is great! Bit miffed about no ultrawide, and the 120fps cap is a bit annoying, but in the amount of time I've had with this version, it runs great on my gaming PC and on my Steam Deck.
Even though I sounded a bit negative, I still ultimately very much recommend this game!
Sailor Moon for boys. This game was a 3 year project for me, what started as something I’d play for an hour every week quickly snowballed into a 10 hour session obsession in the latter half. A game has to do everything perfect or close to it to be able to be 130 hours and feel like less than half of that. If it had standard jrpg turn based combat my playtime would probably have been 30 hours longer, but with all the quality of life innovations they have it makes everything work so smoothly. Jumping from different genres and game mechanics every few hours really help to keep any one thing from getting stale. I’ve never been so overwhelmingly overloaded with voiced character dialogue like this before. The game has so much detail and care put into it that when it lacks (like how lots of dialogue options kind of lead to the same response) it feels like I’m being cheated. That’s only because of how high it raises the bar for itself. I initially had an issue with how lackluster the dungeon interact ability was, but then once I realized you shouldn’t spend too much time on the dearies within and just focus on killing and looting it all clicked. All the characters are so well fleshed out and fun to learn about and I’ll give props to Ryuji for having one of the best side character voice actors I’ve encountered (English dub). Everything from the music to the gameplay to the characterization is just an endless treat and I can see why this series has so much praise. Can’t wait to check out the others.
"I'm Joker the Joke." - The P5 protagonist upon meeting Student called Yoshizawa.
I can see why many people were advocating for this game's greatness. And as someone who has actually played the damn game (and even somehow 100% all the Steam achievements on my first run), I had the time of my life playing through Persona 5. The jump in the presentation quality alone is its own kind of art, right down to the freaking sexy menu UI. I really appreciated seeing all the characters awaken to their Persona's instead of letting the protagonist steal the thunder. And the extra content that Royal brings to the table was really interesting to speak, I'm surprised it wasn't used as the basis for the next Persona. While it is a somewhat easy RPG, don't let that change your heart on Persona 5 Royal, as it allowed the series to further stand amongst other RPG titans! The soundtrack alone (like with many Persona games, its basically a given at this point.) is just spoiling us too.
I can see why many people were advocating for this game's greatness. And as someone who has actually played the damn game (and even somehow 100% all the Steam achievements on my first run), I had the time of my life playing through Persona 5. The jump in the presentation quality alone is its own kind of art, right down to the freaking sexy menu UI. I really appreciated seeing all the characters awaken to their Persona's instead of letting the protagonist steal the thunder. And the extra content that Royal brings to the table was really interesting to speak, I'm surprised it wasn't used as the basis for the next Persona. While it is a somewhat easy RPG, don't let that change your heart on Persona 5 Royal, as it allowed the series to further stand amongst other RPG titans! The soundtrack alone (like with many Persona games, its basically a given at this point.) is just spoiling us too.
The game was fun and there were some amazing moments that made it very enjoyable but the writing is a bit too on the nose for the majority of the game and it had a lotta moments that genuinely angered me so it feels weaker than the previous 2 games.
Persona games make me want to kill myself by momentarily letting me live the illusion of a perfect friend group
This re release really impressed my by making all the tedious aspects of the original version actually fun. The gameplay is far more engaging and less stressful than the original with the rebalancing. So yeah, that plus one of the best stories in games.
This game is great. Love most of the characters and the story. Approaching the Third Trimester, which I am mostly going into blind, so that'll be fun
Overrated and underrated in equal parts, ATLUS, stop overexploiting this game.
Not the best story, but endearing in several parts. The gameplay and aesthetics are fire.
But I feel like the game gets too dark when Morgana turns to the screen and starts telling you to kill the president... That part was weird...
Not the best story, but endearing in several parts. The gameplay and aesthetics are fire.
But I feel like the game gets too dark when Morgana turns to the screen and starts telling you to kill the president... That part was weird...
Perfect way to get into new-age persona
This review contains spoilers
fuck the burger guy
Persona 5 is absolutely shameless.
A fun combat system cannot hide what is an ultimately mind-numbing 100 hours of some of the most callously offensive and misogynistic writing I've been subjected to in my life. If there is a woman in this game, she WILL be shamelessly objectified by protagonists, antagonists, and especially the game developers, and you will never get a moment of rest from this ceaselessly dated writing style.
I can only describe it as masterfully tone-deaf that the game's highly acclaimed visual style is borrowed from midcentry British punk aesthetics with none of the serious political meaning and actual genuine rebellion against institutions of power carried along with it.
Avoid at all costs, I beg you. This is one instance where even the best gameplay in the world could not save the writing for its own life.
And please, for the love of god, be careful who you recommend this thing to. This should be handled like radioactive waste.
A fun combat system cannot hide what is an ultimately mind-numbing 100 hours of some of the most callously offensive and misogynistic writing I've been subjected to in my life. If there is a woman in this game, she WILL be shamelessly objectified by protagonists, antagonists, and especially the game developers, and you will never get a moment of rest from this ceaselessly dated writing style.
I can only describe it as masterfully tone-deaf that the game's highly acclaimed visual style is borrowed from midcentry British punk aesthetics with none of the serious political meaning and actual genuine rebellion against institutions of power carried along with it.
Avoid at all costs, I beg you. This is one instance where even the best gameplay in the world could not save the writing for its own life.
And please, for the love of god, be careful who you recommend this thing to. This should be handled like radioactive waste.
I thought the game was very good but some of the writing is awful.
This review contains spoilers
Now let me start with the good first and foremost, because I don't want this to be an entirely negative review. Persona 5 has the best gameplay in the entire franchise so far, the combat is responsive and fast paced, the palaces are a MASSIVE step up from tartarus and the TV world and Tokyo is full of side content for you to do. (Plus, the Maruki Arc is one of the best additions to a persona game ever.) Talking on a purely gameplay focused perspective Persona 5 definitely would be a contender for one of the best jrpgs ever. However, the story and characters (Mainly talking about the party members and the antagonists here.) Are basically the achilles' heel of what would be a great game. Firstly, the main party members are the ones with the least chemistry between eachother in the entire series. The P3 gang has a similar problem but it's resolved during the answer and over the course of P3, plus there's no stupid situations like the Ryuji scene after Shido iykyk and there's no shitty scenes like the morgana situation before okumura's palace. The party members overall are just incredibly shallow and give you zero reason to care about them outside of a few outliers, (Ryuji and Yusuke.) Haru had the potential to fit into this outlier group but sadly she has zero development and screentime to be put into it. Now starting with the story, surprisingly the game starts off with a bang during the kamoshida arc. Kamoshida is a villain that actually makes you want to go in and take him down. Additionally his arc has actual stakes at hand, you'd think the game would get even better from here on out but sadly its the opposite. The following arcs are practically filler until Futaba and have forced as fuck stakes with villains you have no reason to feel threatened by, futaba's arc is surprisingly decent and pretty unique. Okumara's palace is annoying and has the same issue as Madarame's and Kanesheiro's. Sae's palace is decent enough but is practically just exists to give context to the beginning of the game and reveal Akechi as the (obvious) traitor. Shido's palace is actually pretty good and the battle against shido has a fucking kino moment that made me hype, though akechi's whole situation has a shitty ending that completely ruins Futaba and what little of Haru's character. Yaldabaoth is whatever, and Maruki's arc is probably my favourite one in any persona game I've played so far. And it actually has a philosphical narrative that makes the player genuinely question which side they should be rooting for. Overall P5 royal is a game you either love or hate, If you dont really care for story or plot (Then im not really sure why you're playing a JRPG of all things) then you'll love it. If you do care you'd most likely not like it that much, although that differs from person to person. It's not a bad or awful game but it was just a mediocre experience with some high points for me personally.
This game is weird. I wouldn't finish even though I was kind of done with it.
But then it finished and kinda didn't want it to be.
Also talking cat minivan.
But then it finished and kinda didn't want it to be.
Also talking cat minivan.
Okumura palace is the shein HQ
Wonderful cast of characters, amazing story that was very much improved upon in this version, and a beautiful soundtrack
Favourite game ever, the balance between Turn based fighting and Daily Life with Confidants makes for such a diverse and untertaining game, amazing characters and story, some of the best music I've ever heard, beautiful game, amazing level design
please let me experience this again
At first I thought the game was going to be really bad, but I was very surprised. It ran pretty well on my switch and I like the games mechanics and confidant stories.
This review contains spoilers
morgana turns into a car
I played this game 4 times, 2 times on switch and 2 times on PC (playing it for 5th time on PC as of writing this). I can say for sure that this game is the best Persona game ever.
I loved everything about the game. OSTs, Story, Characters, Gameplay, Social Links and even the visuals.
[OSTs +]
I love that they made this game's theme be a Jazz, cozy/relaxing/chill and Pop themed. I have always loved these type of music / songs; it just makes my mood turn from a bad to good. I always listen to P5 and P5R's theme. My favorites and probably the most notable are: "Beneath the Mask (all versions), Ideal and Real (all versions) and Our Beginning. You can even get costume fighting music, by changing your costume too. Compared to P4, the OSTs don't get annoying, if anything I just turn off the Music most of my playthrough on P4 especially on Dungeons; It is very bad compared to P5. P3 was good unlike P4.
[Story & Characters +] (spoiler)
Some people would say that the story is just about Teens who hate adults and sending agendas to the players, for me I disagree. The story of P5 is centered on the experience these teenagers had with the adults, the protag's parents dumped him and did not believe him, now he only has Sojiro to trust and other few adults. Ryuji the experience he had with his dad and Kamoshida and other characters who had it bad.
Characters's story, backgrounds and social links were never boring to me, and it never got irritating to talk to them or hangout with anyone! compared to p4 and p3 social links were an utter garbage with all meaning (p4 had few good social links, mainly your teammates, but the rest are very bad). All of them are interesting on their own.
[Gameplay +]
It's really fun, no matter how many times I play this game. I never got tired of the gameplay. They added showtime and also made "All-Out-Attack" useful rather than it dealing low damage. Farming EXP and money is very easy if you know how to properly fight shadows on mementos faster. Also you can get the confidant rank that makes you just kill the shadows instantly without even the need of fighting, making it easier and more efficient for farming. They added "Show-Time" attack, you don't need to put both partners on the party, you just need one of them, making it easier to strategize and dealing with enemies faster.
While just wondering on Mementos you can see your party member chatting which is really nice.
[Visuals & Places+]
Nice visuals even though I sometimes get drop frames when there are lots of NPCs around in an area, but overall it's good. In rains the graphics is top tear for me, and I just love to wonder around the city with it.
Compared to P4 and P3. P5 is taken on Shibuya which has lots of life in it. in P3 areas were very soulless, but in Reload they fixed it, but it still wasn't as lively as it is in P5, P4 on the other hand takes place in the country part, so it's understandable that it's not that lively (even thought you can't even talk to any of them other than them telling you stuff". The way made all of P5 areas are very good. Palaces are very good built too.
Persona 5 Royal is the best Persona game. Yes, I said it again I know, but it's something lots of people don't realize... I see lots of people saying P3Reload is better than P5Royal for the stupidest reasons, and when it comes to comparing both as WHOLE GAME (and not just story or tiny parts ALL OF IT) P5R always win. P4G is also a very bad Persona remake/expansion... in P5R you are forced to interact with Yoshizawa! But in P4G you have to do it all by yourself. It's so damn lazy P4G's devs I don't care what anyone say.
Rant: Yosuke (p4) is always the best buddy in all of Persona games, then comes Ryuji and finally below trash comes Junpei.
All P5/P5R's OSTs are better than all of the rest games.
Social Links are better in P5R.
Story, writing and character are better in P5R.
P4 had a good story, but the filler events ruined it.
P3 had a shit story, shit characters, shit at everything.
P3's Protag is just a depressed anime femboy, I don't understand why people like him.
I loved everything about the game. OSTs, Story, Characters, Gameplay, Social Links and even the visuals.
[OSTs +]
I love that they made this game's theme be a Jazz, cozy/relaxing/chill and Pop themed. I have always loved these type of music / songs; it just makes my mood turn from a bad to good. I always listen to P5 and P5R's theme. My favorites and probably the most notable are: "Beneath the Mask (all versions), Ideal and Real (all versions) and Our Beginning. You can even get costume fighting music, by changing your costume too. Compared to P4, the OSTs don't get annoying, if anything I just turn off the Music most of my playthrough on P4 especially on Dungeons; It is very bad compared to P5. P3 was good unlike P4.
[Story & Characters +] (spoiler)
Some people would say that the story is just about Teens who hate adults and sending agendas to the players, for me I disagree. The story of P5 is centered on the experience these teenagers had with the adults, the protag's parents dumped him and did not believe him, now he only has Sojiro to trust and other few adults. Ryuji the experience he had with his dad and Kamoshida and other characters who had it bad.
Characters's story, backgrounds and social links were never boring to me, and it never got irritating to talk to them or hangout with anyone! compared to p4 and p3 social links were an utter garbage with all meaning (p4 had few good social links, mainly your teammates, but the rest are very bad). All of them are interesting on their own.
[Gameplay +]
It's really fun, no matter how many times I play this game. I never got tired of the gameplay. They added showtime and also made "All-Out-Attack" useful rather than it dealing low damage. Farming EXP and money is very easy if you know how to properly fight shadows on mementos faster. Also you can get the confidant rank that makes you just kill the shadows instantly without even the need of fighting, making it easier and more efficient for farming. They added "Show-Time" attack, you don't need to put both partners on the party, you just need one of them, making it easier to strategize and dealing with enemies faster.
While just wondering on Mementos you can see your party member chatting which is really nice.
[Visuals & Places+]
Nice visuals even though I sometimes get drop frames when there are lots of NPCs around in an area, but overall it's good. In rains the graphics is top tear for me, and I just love to wonder around the city with it.
Compared to P4 and P3. P5 is taken on Shibuya which has lots of life in it. in P3 areas were very soulless, but in Reload they fixed it, but it still wasn't as lively as it is in P5, P4 on the other hand takes place in the country part, so it's understandable that it's not that lively (even thought you can't even talk to any of them other than them telling you stuff". The way made all of P5 areas are very good. Palaces are very good built too.
Persona 5 Royal is the best Persona game. Yes, I said it again I know, but it's something lots of people don't realize... I see lots of people saying P3Reload is better than P5Royal for the stupidest reasons, and when it comes to comparing both as WHOLE GAME (and not just story or tiny parts ALL OF IT) P5R always win. P4G is also a very bad Persona remake/expansion... in P5R you are forced to interact with Yoshizawa! But in P4G you have to do it all by yourself. It's so damn lazy P4G's devs I don't care what anyone say.
Rant: Yosuke (p4) is always the best buddy in all of Persona games, then comes Ryuji and finally below trash comes Junpei.
All P5/P5R's OSTs are better than all of the rest games.
Social Links are better in P5R.
Story, writing and character are better in P5R.
P4 had a good story, but the filler events ruined it.
P3 had a shit story, shit characters, shit at everything.
P3's Protag is just a depressed anime femboy, I don't understand why people like him.
this game is not perfect. some shit is dumb. sometimes the writers were on fent. yet it is Perfect. schrödinger's videogame.
Finally giving it the time it deserves now that everyone has shut up about it.
Its good. Like really good. Polished to the 9s and brisker than it should be with as much dialogue as it has.
Makes me very excited for Metaphor later this year.
Its good. Like really good. Polished to the 9s and brisker than it should be with as much dialogue as it has.
Makes me very excited for Metaphor later this year.
Average coomer garbage
Este juego es algo que existe y estaré eternamente agradecida por ello
It only added to and elevated an already great game in the og Persona 5 release. The newly added story, characters and music are some of my favorites in the wider modern Persona trilogy. It still has some issues, most were largely addressed between base P5 and Royal, mainly within certain arcs of the story. Overall though the game is a masterpiece and nowhere near as bad as internet perception has made it out to be. It's my personal favorite of the modern Persona trilogy.
ngl this is one of the best JRPG that i played, the game is perfect but playing New Game+ isn't that good (only if you focus on minor details like early confidant and answers)
Look, I'm a big SMT mark, I'm going to play and enjoy most everything related to the series(Except all the crappy P5 spinoffs) But damn did this version give me the RPG fatigue. Atlus should have saved a lot of these ideas for Persona 6. I really wish they would just make a game and treat it as a finished art piece. Remaster if you need to but respect the original intent.
Got to bang the teacher