Persona 5
I will make this review as spoiler-free as I can:
After playing through Persona 3 and 4 (alongside a few of the Shin Megami Tensei titles) last summer, I was absolutely hyped for Persona 5. From the first few trailers I watched, the game was oozing with style, I loved everything I saw about it. Even before having played a Persona game and seeing the trailers for 5, I was blown away by how much defining character and style the game had. For an entire year I hyped this game up, I am use to letdowns and games not usually living up to my expectations (hell, I have a hard time even thinking BOTW lived up to the hype it was getting), but somehow Persona 5 lived up to every amount of hype the game got. Whether you are an RPG veteran, or a newcomer, Persona 5 redefines the RPG genre.
What I found particularly interesting of Persona 5 was its story. For contrasting sake, in Persona 3 and 4, you simply play the role of a transfer student, moving to a new area. In Persona 5, you play the role of a transfer student who was given false criminal records and charges, and is put on probation. Modern day Tokyo is filled with corrupt adults who seek to victimize others for their own personal gain, be it, sex, money, power, etc. Within the first few hours of the game it isn't afraid to show you some of its darker tones. Of course, it isn't a Persona game without a supernatural occurrence behind the works. Enter the Metaverse, an alternate world based off of the cognition of individuals. Within the metaverse, you're introduced to palaces, a twisted version of reality birthed from the distorted desires of an individual and how they perceive reality. Those whose desires are incredibly distorted usually have their own palace with their shadow selves as the host. It is because of these varied perceptions of reality that the palaces can take on many interesting forms, such as a castle, museum, bank, etc. The palaces reflect the hearts of these individuals, once the group obtains the power of their Persona's (a manifestation of their psyche used to fight off against shadows, the surpressed desires and emotions of humans), they realize they can change the hearts of individuals by stealing their treasure: the root of their desires. Realizing this power, the group of characters you recruit form the Phantom Thieves, a group of individuals who 'steal' the hearts of corrupt adults, and help reform society to help those who are victim to the corruption. This theme is also very prevalent when each character (including the protagonist himself) first awakens to their Persona, society forces people to wear 'masks', that while not visible in the real world, are visible in the metaverse. The masks are symbolic of their place in society, a prisoner, bounded down by societal expectations and rules. Only by ripping off that mask are the characters able to face their true selves and summon their Persona. While changing the hearts of individuals to make them have heavy remorse for their actions is a nice aspect of the game, the main draw for me was seeing the characters stand up from their role as social outcasts, and fight to help those who are suffering similar burdens just as they were in their double life. I don't want to give away any crucial plot details but not everyone whose heart you steal are necessarily 'corrupt', as a palace is birthed from strong distorted desires, so the game certainly isn't afraid to throw any plot twists or changes at you. Persona 5's main theme is rebellion, and while that may sound cliche in a sense, I feel it is one that really resonated with me, and the way the game handles this theme is done extraordinarily well. Seeing the characters struggle, and having the will to overcome that is one of the best aspects of the game for me. Seeing the characters under these intense moments facing their true identities creates potential for some of the best character development. Character development has of course always been a staple of the Persona series- and for here that is no exception.
The dungeons in the game all have their own unique, varied, and extremely intricate design to them. A big issue I had with Persona 3 and 4's dungeons is that they were all randomly generated, which while not the worst issue, it made the dungeons feel far less varied and quickly get repetitive. The dungeons in Persona 5 have rid of the randomly generated dungeons of Persona 3/4 and opted for its own fully crafted design. As mentioned before, dungeons take on the role of an individual's cognition, which can pave the way for some incredibly varied designs. The intensive amount of vibrant colors and flashiness really give each dungeon its own unique vibe. Style aside, the gameplay in Persona is phenomenal. Persona, much like other games in the Megaten franchise, consists of exploiting enemy weaknesses to gain extra turns and use them to your advantage. You'll be constantly fusing Persona's to give birth to newer ones and creating an optimal setup for each. I find that a lot of people seem to be comparing it to Pokemon (which is a little strange since Megaten has been around way longer than Pokemon), but regardless, Persona 5's "monster collecting" aspect is surprisingly addictive. Fusing for hours on end to transfer over your desired move set can create for some extremely intricate and varied gameplay. It has you constantly changing up your tactic with your arsenal of Persona's to assist you through each situation. Another important aspect of battles is negotiation, a feature that has been absent from Persona since Eternal Punishment. When all enemies have been exposed to a weakness and are downed, you're able to spare their lives and have them join your party. This has of course been a prominent aspect of Shin Megami Tensei for years, but this is not always an easy task. Shadows need to be responded to in accordance to their personality type for you to be able to retrieve them. Gathering all these Persona's up to create even more fusions add to the intricacy of the gameplay. Another important aspect is the return of the demons and gods as enemies you fight. While the enemies you fight are still shadows, when ripping off their mask and revealing their true form, it is shown they are a being formed from the collective unconsciousness of humanity.
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the 'teenagers saving the world' and 'living out an alter ego' cliche. While some may argue that the non-dungeon related parts of the games are more tedious and boring (which is why some people have more of a Shin Megami Tensei preference), I find this to not be the case. When you aren't exploring dungeons and fighting off shadows, you're spending your time doing normal social stuff: hanging out with friends, studying for exams, and watching movies. Those ignorant of the social sim half of Persona will really miss out on some of the best character development in the game. While you do have your main crew to talk to and hang out with, Persona 5 specializes in confidants, the new 'social-link' system that replaces Persona 3 and 4. With confidants, you meet various people who face similar issues that those from the Phantom Thieves do. To get this out of the way: I can easily wholeheartedly say that the confidants are a thousand times better than Persona 3 or 4's social links. Confidants involve some of the more minor characters of the game such as your teacher, a doctor, or even an ex-yakuza, but they all play an important role in helping you power your Persona by helping them all resolve their issues. Some of the 'stories' that these confidants hold and their backgrounds can certainly be pretty rough, and to my surprise, some of these minor characters had more fascinating resolves than few of those of the main crew. The confidants feel like they actually have some relevance to the main narrative, and end up being one of the best aspects of Persona 5.
The music in Persona 5 really accompanies its modern urban style. The music in the game mostly consists of 'acid jazz.' A genre I've never heard of until
playing this game, but the tracks really draw you in. Even after hearing the same tracks repeat having done a 100 hour playthrough, I still never get tired of
the comfy tunes that play to accompany the situation or mood.
This is hard for me to put into words but I want to talk about Persona 5's "style." The game is overflowing with style, even extremely simple and minor
things like menus are filled with over the top animation. It's strange how something as minor as just purchasing items from a store look so incredibly
upbeat and vibrant, it really never gets tiring to look at. There were no shortcuts, every nook and cranny is filled with overflowing vibrancy to accompany
the modernized setting of the game:
Overall, Persona 5 has been an incredible experience for me, I definitely feel the urge to do a second playthrough to get the confidants I missed out on. Whether you're new to RPG's or experienced, I can easily recommend Persona 5. Turn based JRPG's have been lacking a huge absence on consoles, seeing the genre redefined by Persona 5 really is one of the big contributing factors to why I got into RPG's in the first place. Persona 5 was definitely a really awesome
visual experience for me, I found myself being heavily attached to the characters and their resolves. I can easily recommend this to anyone who owns a Playstation 3 or 4 looking for an excellent RPG.
).
)