I don't know where to start when pontificating about a game that's been in the collective hivemind for nearly half a decade (past that if we're referring to vanilla), and everything that can be said about it has already been said. That aside, you can't not say something about the game that has taken up a significant chunk of the past year, across nearly 150 total hours, and has almost always been on the back of your mind.
Persona 5 Royal marks as my second genuine step in my "RPG Rehabilitation." Persona 4 Golden was my first real awakening that the genre really did have something to offer to me after a long and unjustified period of hating the genre from afar. Persona 5 Royal was easier to pick up than its predecessor, with a simplified UI, speedy battle system, and (in my opinion) far more satisfying character arcs across our main cast.
Improvements stretch into the overall dungeon designs. Mixing a more "traditional" randomized layout for the "Mementos" dungeon, with fixed layouts for the main-narrative "Palaces." Jumping between the two is a much-needed breath of fresh air when one runs a little stale to the other, never languishing too long in any given fixture (unless you spend several hours grinding Mementos stamps towards the end of the game). Persona 4 Golden's dungeon themes proved fun in theory but ran stale fast as their strictly random nature became a chore to navigate time and time again. It'll be a bit tough traveling backwards on some SMT games in the near future when the variety present in P5R has spoiled me somewhat.
For the most part, the balance between dungeon designs and the structure of the game as a whole serves a stellar experience. A fumble happens from time-to-time through some extended sequences of repeating information and stereotypical "anime moments," which is compounded when some of these things involve characters you cannot stand. Persona 4's cast never got on my nerves too much, yet had many forgettable characters in contrast. Persona 5's cast is more interesting, but has a few standout annoyances in contrast. I'll be honest, most of my disdain resides for Mishima and Makoto. I was a dweeb in high school and I would've called Mishima a dweeb, and Makoto is a pig and this very uptight personality I couldn't gel with. Just for the record, though: Yusuke is best boy, Haru is best girl, and Takemi is waifu.
The investment needed to run through as much repeated information, extended visual novel-like sequences, and plenty of dungeon grinding is an understandable turnoff for many. Ultimately, lots of it did end up getting to me upon the later hours of the experience, largely wanting things to end before the 3rd semester content even began. Thankfully, that last section of the game breathed new life into the experience, yet the impatience eventually came back towards those last hours. For a game that runs nearly a week in total length, I think there could be some clear fat trimming to create a leaner and more enjoyable experience. But it is because of that long time spent with these characters that I got far more emotional saying goodbye than I did in Persona 4 Golden.
A replay is on the counter in the future, with only a few trophies hanging around to get my platinum on top of a desire to see what NG+ content there is. For now, it's maybe a time to take a bit of a break from Persona.
Persona 5 Royal marks as my second genuine step in my "RPG Rehabilitation." Persona 4 Golden was my first real awakening that the genre really did have something to offer to me after a long and unjustified period of hating the genre from afar. Persona 5 Royal was easier to pick up than its predecessor, with a simplified UI, speedy battle system, and (in my opinion) far more satisfying character arcs across our main cast.
Improvements stretch into the overall dungeon designs. Mixing a more "traditional" randomized layout for the "Mementos" dungeon, with fixed layouts for the main-narrative "Palaces." Jumping between the two is a much-needed breath of fresh air when one runs a little stale to the other, never languishing too long in any given fixture (unless you spend several hours grinding Mementos stamps towards the end of the game). Persona 4 Golden's dungeon themes proved fun in theory but ran stale fast as their strictly random nature became a chore to navigate time and time again. It'll be a bit tough traveling backwards on some SMT games in the near future when the variety present in P5R has spoiled me somewhat.
For the most part, the balance between dungeon designs and the structure of the game as a whole serves a stellar experience. A fumble happens from time-to-time through some extended sequences of repeating information and stereotypical "anime moments," which is compounded when some of these things involve characters you cannot stand. Persona 4's cast never got on my nerves too much, yet had many forgettable characters in contrast. Persona 5's cast is more interesting, but has a few standout annoyances in contrast. I'll be honest, most of my disdain resides for Mishima and Makoto. I was a dweeb in high school and I would've called Mishima a dweeb, and Makoto is a pig and this very uptight personality I couldn't gel with. Just for the record, though: Yusuke is best boy, Haru is best girl, and Takemi is waifu.
The investment needed to run through as much repeated information, extended visual novel-like sequences, and plenty of dungeon grinding is an understandable turnoff for many. Ultimately, lots of it did end up getting to me upon the later hours of the experience, largely wanting things to end before the 3rd semester content even began. Thankfully, that last section of the game breathed new life into the experience, yet the impatience eventually came back towards those last hours. For a game that runs nearly a week in total length, I think there could be some clear fat trimming to create a leaner and more enjoyable experience. But it is because of that long time spent with these characters that I got far more emotional saying goodbye than I did in Persona 4 Golden.
A replay is on the counter in the future, with only a few trophies hanging around to get my platinum on top of a desire to see what NG+ content there is. For now, it's maybe a time to take a bit of a break from Persona.