This review contains spoilers
Like Persona 3 FES and Persona 4: Golden, P5 Royal is a remastered edition with extra features to the base game sold separately years after the release of the original. Atlus seems to love making everyone who buys their games immediately feel like suckers, but every Persona fan buys into it nonetheless, and we knew that they were going to release something like this years ahead of time. P5 Royal adds new characters, new gameplay modes, and new battle features, and a whole 20+ hour chunk of time to the base game by adding a third semester after December. The refurbished versions of each Persona game are supposed to be the optimal versions of each subsequent game, but considering how the original Persona 5 immediately became one of my all-time favorites, were all of these changes necessary? Not really, but since I've played Persona 5 Royal, I can't imagine the game without these changes. I've been spoiled, and I'm loving it. Technically, Persona 5 Royal has now dethroned the original Persona 5 as not only my favorite Persona game, but one of my all-time favorites.
I initially thought that the changes that P5 Royal added would just amount to what seemed like what could have been DLC added to the end of the game. I thought that it would be like "The Answer" in Persona 3: FES. I'm glad I was wrong because Atlus somehow improved what was already solid in the base game and made it practically flawless. The additional district of Kichijoji is swanky and robust and incorporates a dart mini-game that is actually quite enjoyable. Each partner immediately has the ability to baton pass diversifying the range of team building at any point in the game instead of unlocking the ability through ranking up confidants. You don't have to unlock the escape option, but ranking up Hifumi's confidant gives your partners the ability to swap each other out of battle. If you don't select the optimal response during a confidant, Royal gives you a second chance with extra points through phone conversations after every confidant. Morgana/Futaba will tell you the temperament of a shadow to make it easier to communicate with it. This list of changes continues of course, but my main point in highlighting these is that these weren't needed to improve on the original game, but they are certainly welcome because they make the experience much smoother. The only major gripe, as I initially said about the original PS5 was juggling time management. This was the only negative aspect of Persona 5 that I thought Personas 3 and 4 had the advantage over. However, Royal's time management is much more lenient. Even after you've been in the Metaverse, you can still raise your stats at home without having to call Kawakami. Thank the lords. My one major grievance was annulled and now this game is perfect. Right?
...It's all a little too perfect. The caveat for all of these smooth changes is that they've made the game a little too easy, and I don't think it's because I've played through this game four times. I even played Royal on hard mode and it only felt like a substantial challenge at certain points rather than offering a consistent level of difficulty. Of course, Persona 5 was already easier than the previous two games, but not to the point where I questioned the quality of it. In the social-life aspects of this game, the more accessible route of having the player raise their stats anytime at home makes the time crunch of raising your stats with ranking up confidants in one playthrough much less strenuous. I'd argue this is a good thing, but the whole process felt less rewarding to me. In battle, you'll unlock "showtime moves" in which two of your partners perform very flashy, over-the-top finishing moves targeting one enemy. These new battle mechanics are entertaining, but they are all incredibly overpowered and occur so often. It happens so often that it feels like the game is bailing you out of getting a game over. In fact, the showtime move seems to trigger almost every time you might be on the verge of dying. It's a shame that these moves get so tiring because of how well they fit with the style of this game.
The new characters added to the base game worried me a bit. The story of the original Persona 5 is one of my favorites in any video game I've played and adding characters to an already established story can verge on the uncanny. Judging from the quality of both Metis and Marie, Atlus have struggled finding a comfortable spot for the additional characters, but this is not the case for the new characters in P5 Royal. Altus managed to organically place these new characters without disrupting the pacing of the story. It also helps that these characters add an extra layer of depth to Persona 5 and it's premise that I had no idea that it needed.
Dr. Takuto Maruki is the new guidance counselor at Shujin Academy that provides his aid after the Kamoshida palace. I guess it would make sense to hire a guidance counselor on short notice considering what Kamoshida did. There are many points in which Joker and his partners seek his aid throughout the game (even Yosuke who despite not being a student at Shujin is fascinated with the man and wants his input anyways as a way for every partner to become exposed to him) and Joker's confidant with him involves helping him with his research in cognitive psience. He's a young, tall, clumsy, unassuming man that fulfills his role as a high school counselor adequately (always complete with an assortment of healthy snacks). However, if these games have taught me anything, it's to always keep a watch out for the ones that seem the least assuming. Maruki made me indifferent about ranking up his confidant during the base game, but visiting his office is more than worth it as we see Maruki's character arc unfold in the third semester.
Kasumi Yoshizawa is a first-year transfer student at Shujin Academy. She goes to Shujin Academy on a gymnastics scholarship giving her a prestigious role in the school. This reputation only garners contention from her peers and puts a lot of pressure on her as well. I was worried about Kasumi being introduced in this game because I knew that she was going to be the new inclusion to the Phantom Thieves beforehand. This game already had issues with introducing characters after a certain point in the story (Haru), so I didn't have exceeding expectations for a character that I thought was going to be shoe-horned incredibly late into a story that was already finished. Fortunately, Kasumi is introduced as early as the first palace of the game and makes an appearance every so often that the player will naturally become used to Kasumi being in the game even if they played the original Persona 5. Now if only they could have done the same for Haru. I started to get attached to Kasumi every time she'd whisk Joker away to have the player explore more of her character arc (and as not to disrupt the flow of the already established base game). She's spunky, polite, motivated, and wears an adorable, radiant red ribbon in her hair. If things had gone as planned, I would've romanced her and only her in my first playthrough of P5 Royal.
The changes to the base game are merely small hat to the real meat of the P5 Royal experience. The third semester of this game is by far the main selling point. It is here that I have a confession to make: I had to play through Persona 5 Royal twice to unlock the third semester. In the first run of any Persona game, I mainly focus on leveling ups stats and focusing on confidants pertaining to my party members so they aren't useless in battle. To unlock the third semester, you have to fully rank up the confidants of the new characters, Dr. Maruki and Kasumi, and Akechi who does not rank up automatically like in vanilla Persona 5. The only character I maxed out was Kasumi because of course I'm going to max out the cute new girl. Dr. Maruki at least had some useful perks, but didn't entice me enough to keep visiting him. As for Akechi...well, I fucking hate Akechi. I'd rather have Ohya throw up all over me than have to hang out with that smarmy psychopath, so of course I ignored him. Persona games have many routes that lead to undesired endings, but not ones that lock you out of the good/true ending several hours before the game ends. I prepared myself for another 100+ hours and unlocked the third semester on my second playthrough of P5 Royal.
The third semester essentially revolves around the three new confidants available to rank up during the base game. It makes sense given that the game locks you out of it if you don't rank up those specific three characters. Firstly, if you rank up Akechi's confidant, he'll take your place in a holding cell to testify against Shido. You get to revel in holiday festivities with your friends, but you wake up on New Years Day in an episode of The Twilight Zone. A hunky anime boy with blue hair is sleeping in your bed and people that are supposed to be dead are up and about without anyone questioning it. However, everyone seems to be extremely happy with this alternate reality, so you just let everything be. The only person who is aware of how bizarre things are is Akechi who has miraculously gotten himself out of jail. You work together with him to find out who is behind all of this in a new palace that has somehow materialized outside of the metaverse. To no one's surprise, the palace's ruler is Dr. Maruki. With the completion of his cognitive research, he has created the ideal alternate reality for all of the Phantom Thieves (ie. Shiho is out of the hospital, Morgana is human, Futaba's mom is alive, etc.) He has taken the Holy Grail's place as the ruler of the metaverse and is using his new ability to adulterate reality to the point where everyone is happily living their ideal lives. Once you go around being a total buzzkill, your friends come to their senses and help you bring reality back to what it was and stop Maruki from getting too ahead of himself more than he already has.
The content of the third semester had to be gigantic in scale. Every ending to a Persona game involves killing a god, so how does one top that? How does Maruki compare to Yaldabaoth as a worthy opponent to end the game on? Also, while examining the content in the third semester, I struggled to find the relevance that all of this had to the core themes of rebellion in the base game. It more or less reminded me of of the themes of Persona 3 and 4 in that the characters are masking their grief by divulging in this fabricated reality. The theme of rebellion is only present as the palace progresses as you reject every proposition Maruki gives you to accept this reality. If you accept his proposal, the ending you get isn't even really a bad one because everyone (literally) lives happily ever after. It should be obvious at this point of the game that you're supposed to oppose this reality and fight Maruki, but your choice isn't as obvious as it was with other palace rulers. This is why I'd argue that Maruki is the best villain in the entire game because he isn't as cartoonishly evil as the other villains. His motivations for using the metaverse are seemingly selfless and the game takes several instances to make you reconsider what you're doing. As you progress through his palace, you learn that he has used his research to aid trauma victims in coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, and quite effectively as well. He uses it on his ex-girlfriend who was shaken up by the demise of both of her parents. More importantly to the plot, he used it on Kasumi, or should I say Sumire, after she indirectly caused her sister to be killed in a traffic accident. Yes, that's the big reveal behind Kasumi's character. She has taken the role of her sister because she feels like she caused her death and thus ended her potentially lucrative gymnastics career. To end her guilt, Maruki convinces Sumire that she is Kasumi to take her stead as the gifted gymnast so she can live out her destiny. The moment when Sumire remembers who she really is during Maruki's palace is quite shocking and makes quite the argument for Maruki and his research.
Ultimately, to get the true ending of the game, you have to rebel against Maruki and fight your way back to the less than optimal true reality where people have died and or suffered. Unfortunately, you have to do this with Akechi by your side and he's just as insufferable as ever. He's past the point of being prim and proper and just acts like the fucking lunatic he is. The problem is that he really puts it on heavy with the psychotic ramblings as he never shuts the fuck up during battle. He constantly laughs maniacally and never stops saying edgy things that make me wince. He's one step from being a smarmy Shadow the Hedgehog. Akechi, you don't need to prove to anyone how damaged and crazy you are. Your performance in the boiler room of Shido's palace was convincing enough. To make matters worse, he is your only partner for the first few hours of the third semester, so you can't swap him out for someone else. I'd say something like "kill me now", but I don't want to give Akechi the satisfaction.
If you need a reason to oppose Maruki besides the fact that the game wants you to, take a look at his palace. It's white all over without even a speck of character making it look eerily sterile like a doctor's office with too much lighting. It's what I imagine the inside of the Scientology headquarters to look like. In fact, Maruki's vision of himself and his desired reality is a bit like Scientology. He wants to wash away people's humanity by offering artificial bliss. There is even a "garden of Eden" section of this palace where Maruki's patients are in a place of eternal ecstasy. Didn't I read about this on a pamphlet at some point? Even Maruki might seem benevolent, his ego makes him a borderline cult leader. His final boss is even just as grandiose as Yaldabaoth making a case against Maruki and giving us a final boss as satisfying as the previous one.
200 hours later, I can hardly remember what the original Persona 5 was like without the changes and this was the game that immediately became one of my favorite games over night. Persona 5 Royal eclipses the original in every single way even with the questionable changes. The new characters are great and the third semester as a whole is fantastic. It's like Atlus pampered every Persona fan and now we're spoiled. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking Ryuji to the cleaners in a game of Tycoon in the Thieves Den.
------
Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com/
I initially thought that the changes that P5 Royal added would just amount to what seemed like what could have been DLC added to the end of the game. I thought that it would be like "The Answer" in Persona 3: FES. I'm glad I was wrong because Atlus somehow improved what was already solid in the base game and made it practically flawless. The additional district of Kichijoji is swanky and robust and incorporates a dart mini-game that is actually quite enjoyable. Each partner immediately has the ability to baton pass diversifying the range of team building at any point in the game instead of unlocking the ability through ranking up confidants. You don't have to unlock the escape option, but ranking up Hifumi's confidant gives your partners the ability to swap each other out of battle. If you don't select the optimal response during a confidant, Royal gives you a second chance with extra points through phone conversations after every confidant. Morgana/Futaba will tell you the temperament of a shadow to make it easier to communicate with it. This list of changes continues of course, but my main point in highlighting these is that these weren't needed to improve on the original game, but they are certainly welcome because they make the experience much smoother. The only major gripe, as I initially said about the original PS5 was juggling time management. This was the only negative aspect of Persona 5 that I thought Personas 3 and 4 had the advantage over. However, Royal's time management is much more lenient. Even after you've been in the Metaverse, you can still raise your stats at home without having to call Kawakami. Thank the lords. My one major grievance was annulled and now this game is perfect. Right?
...It's all a little too perfect. The caveat for all of these smooth changes is that they've made the game a little too easy, and I don't think it's because I've played through this game four times. I even played Royal on hard mode and it only felt like a substantial challenge at certain points rather than offering a consistent level of difficulty. Of course, Persona 5 was already easier than the previous two games, but not to the point where I questioned the quality of it. In the social-life aspects of this game, the more accessible route of having the player raise their stats anytime at home makes the time crunch of raising your stats with ranking up confidants in one playthrough much less strenuous. I'd argue this is a good thing, but the whole process felt less rewarding to me. In battle, you'll unlock "showtime moves" in which two of your partners perform very flashy, over-the-top finishing moves targeting one enemy. These new battle mechanics are entertaining, but they are all incredibly overpowered and occur so often. It happens so often that it feels like the game is bailing you out of getting a game over. In fact, the showtime move seems to trigger almost every time you might be on the verge of dying. It's a shame that these moves get so tiring because of how well they fit with the style of this game.
The new characters added to the base game worried me a bit. The story of the original Persona 5 is one of my favorites in any video game I've played and adding characters to an already established story can verge on the uncanny. Judging from the quality of both Metis and Marie, Atlus have struggled finding a comfortable spot for the additional characters, but this is not the case for the new characters in P5 Royal. Altus managed to organically place these new characters without disrupting the pacing of the story. It also helps that these characters add an extra layer of depth to Persona 5 and it's premise that I had no idea that it needed.
Dr. Takuto Maruki is the new guidance counselor at Shujin Academy that provides his aid after the Kamoshida palace. I guess it would make sense to hire a guidance counselor on short notice considering what Kamoshida did. There are many points in which Joker and his partners seek his aid throughout the game (even Yosuke who despite not being a student at Shujin is fascinated with the man and wants his input anyways as a way for every partner to become exposed to him) and Joker's confidant with him involves helping him with his research in cognitive psience. He's a young, tall, clumsy, unassuming man that fulfills his role as a high school counselor adequately (always complete with an assortment of healthy snacks). However, if these games have taught me anything, it's to always keep a watch out for the ones that seem the least assuming. Maruki made me indifferent about ranking up his confidant during the base game, but visiting his office is more than worth it as we see Maruki's character arc unfold in the third semester.
Kasumi Yoshizawa is a first-year transfer student at Shujin Academy. She goes to Shujin Academy on a gymnastics scholarship giving her a prestigious role in the school. This reputation only garners contention from her peers and puts a lot of pressure on her as well. I was worried about Kasumi being introduced in this game because I knew that she was going to be the new inclusion to the Phantom Thieves beforehand. This game already had issues with introducing characters after a certain point in the story (Haru), so I didn't have exceeding expectations for a character that I thought was going to be shoe-horned incredibly late into a story that was already finished. Fortunately, Kasumi is introduced as early as the first palace of the game and makes an appearance every so often that the player will naturally become used to Kasumi being in the game even if they played the original Persona 5. Now if only they could have done the same for Haru. I started to get attached to Kasumi every time she'd whisk Joker away to have the player explore more of her character arc (and as not to disrupt the flow of the already established base game). She's spunky, polite, motivated, and wears an adorable, radiant red ribbon in her hair. If things had gone as planned, I would've romanced her and only her in my first playthrough of P5 Royal.
The changes to the base game are merely small hat to the real meat of the P5 Royal experience. The third semester of this game is by far the main selling point. It is here that I have a confession to make: I had to play through Persona 5 Royal twice to unlock the third semester. In the first run of any Persona game, I mainly focus on leveling ups stats and focusing on confidants pertaining to my party members so they aren't useless in battle. To unlock the third semester, you have to fully rank up the confidants of the new characters, Dr. Maruki and Kasumi, and Akechi who does not rank up automatically like in vanilla Persona 5. The only character I maxed out was Kasumi because of course I'm going to max out the cute new girl. Dr. Maruki at least had some useful perks, but didn't entice me enough to keep visiting him. As for Akechi...well, I fucking hate Akechi. I'd rather have Ohya throw up all over me than have to hang out with that smarmy psychopath, so of course I ignored him. Persona games have many routes that lead to undesired endings, but not ones that lock you out of the good/true ending several hours before the game ends. I prepared myself for another 100+ hours and unlocked the third semester on my second playthrough of P5 Royal.
The third semester essentially revolves around the three new confidants available to rank up during the base game. It makes sense given that the game locks you out of it if you don't rank up those specific three characters. Firstly, if you rank up Akechi's confidant, he'll take your place in a holding cell to testify against Shido. You get to revel in holiday festivities with your friends, but you wake up on New Years Day in an episode of The Twilight Zone. A hunky anime boy with blue hair is sleeping in your bed and people that are supposed to be dead are up and about without anyone questioning it. However, everyone seems to be extremely happy with this alternate reality, so you just let everything be. The only person who is aware of how bizarre things are is Akechi who has miraculously gotten himself out of jail. You work together with him to find out who is behind all of this in a new palace that has somehow materialized outside of the metaverse. To no one's surprise, the palace's ruler is Dr. Maruki. With the completion of his cognitive research, he has created the ideal alternate reality for all of the Phantom Thieves (ie. Shiho is out of the hospital, Morgana is human, Futaba's mom is alive, etc.) He has taken the Holy Grail's place as the ruler of the metaverse and is using his new ability to adulterate reality to the point where everyone is happily living their ideal lives. Once you go around being a total buzzkill, your friends come to their senses and help you bring reality back to what it was and stop Maruki from getting too ahead of himself more than he already has.
The content of the third semester had to be gigantic in scale. Every ending to a Persona game involves killing a god, so how does one top that? How does Maruki compare to Yaldabaoth as a worthy opponent to end the game on? Also, while examining the content in the third semester, I struggled to find the relevance that all of this had to the core themes of rebellion in the base game. It more or less reminded me of of the themes of Persona 3 and 4 in that the characters are masking their grief by divulging in this fabricated reality. The theme of rebellion is only present as the palace progresses as you reject every proposition Maruki gives you to accept this reality. If you accept his proposal, the ending you get isn't even really a bad one because everyone (literally) lives happily ever after. It should be obvious at this point of the game that you're supposed to oppose this reality and fight Maruki, but your choice isn't as obvious as it was with other palace rulers. This is why I'd argue that Maruki is the best villain in the entire game because he isn't as cartoonishly evil as the other villains. His motivations for using the metaverse are seemingly selfless and the game takes several instances to make you reconsider what you're doing. As you progress through his palace, you learn that he has used his research to aid trauma victims in coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, and quite effectively as well. He uses it on his ex-girlfriend who was shaken up by the demise of both of her parents. More importantly to the plot, he used it on Kasumi, or should I say Sumire, after she indirectly caused her sister to be killed in a traffic accident. Yes, that's the big reveal behind Kasumi's character. She has taken the role of her sister because she feels like she caused her death and thus ended her potentially lucrative gymnastics career. To end her guilt, Maruki convinces Sumire that she is Kasumi to take her stead as the gifted gymnast so she can live out her destiny. The moment when Sumire remembers who she really is during Maruki's palace is quite shocking and makes quite the argument for Maruki and his research.
Ultimately, to get the true ending of the game, you have to rebel against Maruki and fight your way back to the less than optimal true reality where people have died and or suffered. Unfortunately, you have to do this with Akechi by your side and he's just as insufferable as ever. He's past the point of being prim and proper and just acts like the fucking lunatic he is. The problem is that he really puts it on heavy with the psychotic ramblings as he never shuts the fuck up during battle. He constantly laughs maniacally and never stops saying edgy things that make me wince. He's one step from being a smarmy Shadow the Hedgehog. Akechi, you don't need to prove to anyone how damaged and crazy you are. Your performance in the boiler room of Shido's palace was convincing enough. To make matters worse, he is your only partner for the first few hours of the third semester, so you can't swap him out for someone else. I'd say something like "kill me now", but I don't want to give Akechi the satisfaction.
If you need a reason to oppose Maruki besides the fact that the game wants you to, take a look at his palace. It's white all over without even a speck of character making it look eerily sterile like a doctor's office with too much lighting. It's what I imagine the inside of the Scientology headquarters to look like. In fact, Maruki's vision of himself and his desired reality is a bit like Scientology. He wants to wash away people's humanity by offering artificial bliss. There is even a "garden of Eden" section of this palace where Maruki's patients are in a place of eternal ecstasy. Didn't I read about this on a pamphlet at some point? Even Maruki might seem benevolent, his ego makes him a borderline cult leader. His final boss is even just as grandiose as Yaldabaoth making a case against Maruki and giving us a final boss as satisfying as the previous one.
200 hours later, I can hardly remember what the original Persona 5 was like without the changes and this was the game that immediately became one of my favorite games over night. Persona 5 Royal eclipses the original in every single way even with the questionable changes. The new characters are great and the third semester as a whole is fantastic. It's like Atlus pampered every Persona fan and now we're spoiled. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking Ryuji to the cleaners in a game of Tycoon in the Thieves Den.
------
Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com/