A game that I regrettably wish could be better than Persona 4 Golden, but is instead largely a rehash of the previous game's central premise, instead of being a wholly unique experience, Persona 5 and subsequently, Persona 5 Royal exists to be a cookie cutter Persona 4 minus the excellent character writing, engaging villains, and unique ending, the only addition being that the world is more fleshed out and detailed, adding secondary substance to a game that is missing a majority of its own identity.

I really wish I could rate it much higher, but all I see is missed potential. It's an extremely easy JRPG, even for Persona standards, It feels more like Persona 4, rather than being a fully unique experience start to end like what that game was to Persona 3.

My honest opinion? Play Persona 3 Reload when it comes out February 2024, I promise you a game with difficult encounters and interesting boss mechanics will benefit greatly from most if not all of the QOL enhancements brought by Persona 5 and Royal subsequently. You'll not be missing much.

As a fan of the Persona series, I'm far more hopeful for Persona 6, as it won't have very much of "Hashino's Stank" to it, with him out of the directorial position, and we can help get a persona game that doesn't continue a streak of copying what worked storywise in Persona 4.