Persona 5
Posted: Sat May 06, 2017 4:11 pm
Started to post this in the gaming thread, then wrote too much. Anyone else playing this? If so, feel free to jump in - I only ask people mark spoilers for content after the first palace.
I'm only about halfway through it, in mid-September game time, but I've been obsessed enough that I'll read any non-spoilery article about it. I've checked RPGFan looking for whether they'll post a review. I check reddit, something I very seldom do otherwise, just to follow some discussions about characters.
Two things keep me coming back. In terms of storytelling, the thoroughness with which it follows each character's interactions is really compelling. Most scenes only do small things to maintain tension or move the plot along, but it's that daily contact with the near-mundane that makes these characters seem like more than high school stereotypes, and makes this story seem like more than, "Oh, so we're superheroes now." No, we're still high schoolers with some comical high school anxieties and preoccupations. I've seen occasional clunky localization: overly verbose phrasing, for instance. But it's nothing that rips me out of the setting.
In terms of pacing, the high school simulation seems even better balanced with the dungeon exploration and combat portions. One can binge palaces in a single sitting (which I've done), or space it out across two or three sittings with time to still enjoy the high school simulation. Both work for me; if I start to get impatient with one, I can always go back to the other.
The other elements don't hurt. The menus and interface are gorgeous, with reds, blacks, and jagged, non-parallel lines making the interface pop. The music is great: also contemporary, at times pop and punk for a JRPG.
I think this is the best Persona game, and (in terms of story) the best RPG I've played since Xenoblade Chronicles or The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.
I'm only about halfway through it, in mid-September game time, but I've been obsessed enough that I'll read any non-spoilery article about it. I've checked RPGFan looking for whether they'll post a review. I check reddit, something I very seldom do otherwise, just to follow some discussions about characters.
Two things keep me coming back. In terms of storytelling, the thoroughness with which it follows each character's interactions is really compelling. Most scenes only do small things to maintain tension or move the plot along, but it's that daily contact with the near-mundane that makes these characters seem like more than high school stereotypes, and makes this story seem like more than, "Oh, so we're superheroes now." No, we're still high schoolers with some comical high school anxieties and preoccupations. I've seen occasional clunky localization: overly verbose phrasing, for instance. But it's nothing that rips me out of the setting.
In terms of pacing, the high school simulation seems even better balanced with the dungeon exploration and combat portions. One can binge palaces in a single sitting (which I've done), or space it out across two or three sittings with time to still enjoy the high school simulation. Both work for me; if I start to get impatient with one, I can always go back to the other.
The other elements don't hurt. The menus and interface are gorgeous, with reds, blacks, and jagged, non-parallel lines making the interface pop. The music is great: also contemporary, at times pop and punk for a JRPG.
I think this is the best Persona game, and (in terms of story) the best RPG I've played since Xenoblade Chronicles or The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky.