Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 200: Persona 5

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Todays game is Persona 5. How would you rate the story on a scale from 1-10?

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

Previous Results:
Planescape: Torment - 9.85 (13 votes)
Omori - 9.67 (6 votes)
Outer Wilds - 9.61 (22 votes)
Silent Hill 2 - 9.5 (20 votes)
Higurashi When They Cry - 9.5 (9 votes)
Deus Ex - 9.32 (12 votes)
428: Shibuya Scramble - 9.27 (9 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - 9.2 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.19 (35 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
The House in Fata Morgana - 9.06 (11 votes)
Yakuza 0 - 9.03 (13 votes)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9 (8 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 8.95 (31 votes)
Steins;Gate - 8.94 (9 votes)
Mother 3 - 8.91 (15 votes)
Umineko When They Cry - 8.89 (14 votes)
Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - 8.88 (21 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.85 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8.83 (6 votes)
Suikoden II - 8.8 (11 votes)
Persona 3 - 8.76 (22 votes)
Grim Fandango - 8.75 (14 votes)
Xenogears - 8.73 (24 votes)
Tales of Berseria - 8.71 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.67 (27 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (28 votes)
Pyre - 8.64 (7 votes)
Portal 2 - 8.64 (19 votes)
Bastion - 8.63 (12 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.63 (32 votes)
Dragon Quest V - 8.6 (15 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask - 8.57 (28 votes)
Persona 4 - 8.56 (32 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.56 (17 votes)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - 8.53 (18 votes)
Fate/Stay Night - 8.48 (12 votes)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 8.47 (16 votes)
Undertale - 8.45 (42 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.44 (29 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - 8.42 (12 votes)
What Remains of Edith Finch - 8.41 (19 votes)
Chrono Trigger - 8.4 (41 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Snatcher - 8.33 (6 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.31 (56 votes)
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - 8.31 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy VII - 8.29 (38 votes)
South Park: The Stick of Truth - 8.25 (18 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.21 (19 votes)
Parasite Eve - 8.19 (9 votes)
Dragon Quest XI - 8.19 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy VI - 8.19 (43 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.19 (43 votes)
The Walking Dead Season 1 - 8.16 (22 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - 8.15 (17 votes)
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 8.14 (7 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.13 (35 votes)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals - 8.11 (9 votes)
The Wolf Among Us - 8.11 (15 votes)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - 8.1 (5 votes)
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 8.06 (18 votes)
Silent Hill - 8.04 (14 votes)
Portal - 8 (26 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 8 (18 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles - 7.98 (28 votes)
Hades - 7.96 (22 votes)
Tsukihime - 7.94 (7 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.92 (32 votes)
Spec Ops: The Line - 7.9 (17 votes)
Bloodborne - 7.88 (20 votes)
Kid Icarus: Uprising - 7.86 (13 votes)
Psychonauts - 7.79 (7 votes)
Deadly Premonition - 7.77 (11 votes)
Final Fantasy IX - 7.77 (26 votes)
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - 7.75 (6 votes)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - 7.75 (4 votes)
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - 7.73 (32 votes)
The Sexy Brutale - 7.7 (5 votes)
Bioshock - 7.65 (24 votes)
Skies of Arcadia - 7.63 (15 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.61 (28 votes)
Celeste - 7.56 (26 votes)
Half-Life 2 - 7.55 (10 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.51 (31 votes)
The Last Story - 7.47 (6 votes)
Mortal Kombat (2011) - 7.46 (13 votes)
Marvels Spider-Man - 7.43 (16 votes)
Tales of Symphonia - 7.42 (30 votes)
Earthbound - 7.37 (20 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.33 (29 votes)
Batman: Arkham Asylum - 7.33 (23 votes)
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - 7.27 (20 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.25 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Red Dead Redemption - 7.23 (11 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.21 (30 votes)
Resident Evil 4 - 7.19 (25 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (25 votes)
Mass Effect 3 - 7.16 (21 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 7.11 (23 votes)
The Stanley Parable - 7.11 (14 votes)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 7.1 (30 votes)
Broken Age - 7.1 (5 votes)
The Last of Us Part II - 7.09 (16 votes)
To the Moon - 7.07 (7 votes)
INSIDE - 7.06 (16 votes)
Warcraft III (overall) - 7.06 (8 votes)
Assassins Creed II - 7.04 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy VIII - 7.01 (31 votes)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 7 (6 votes)

8.5/10

I love the game's premise and atmosphere, and I'd say the story is pretty strong for the first 75% of the game or so. It falters a bit toward the end though.

9.5/10

While not perfect, there's very little wrong overall.

8.5

I'm gonna say 7/10. The story is probably one of the weaker parts. Royal actually improves it a lot by coming at it from a different angle later on but this is just for the original, right?

6/10 probably. The beginning stuff is pretty easily the best of it as far as the story goes I think. Everybody after Kamoshida feels way less personal and even uninteresting really. Some great characters are introduced after that, but I felt the story was at a loss what to do with several of them and some of the slice of life stuff was pretty lame since they all just sat around being bored and complaining instead of hanging out as friends having fun. I mostly despise all the text messages in the story. I get its what kids do, but goddamn get off the fucking phone for a whole 5 minutes please it was terrible.

8.5/10

Meh. Certain individual arcs are easy 10/10 material, but they can only carry the game so far. The first arc is fantastic and Kamoshida is such a great villain--easily the best of the series. The conflict is personal, and he feels like a totally real and utterly vile character. Basically everything you could ask for in order to get me invested. Also, the content of palace 4 definitely makes my shortlist for best character arcs in video gaming, period. Stories of healing are pretty much always the best types of stories there are and this is a good one.

Otherwise though, the individual arcs are...fine. (Except when they aren't--see palace 5) The overarching story is pretty weak, has problems with its structure, and goes out on a whimper. And the cast chemistry in this game is somewhat lacking in this game as compared to 3 and 4, which was what went a long way in making those games memorable. I do like the characters as individuals here, but it feels like there's something missing in the group dynamic, idk.

6.5/10

I am mostly with swordz here. The character interaction is a disappointment after P4 was so great with that, and them sitting around complaining about boredom got me to be bored, too. I too agree that Kamoshida was by far the most personal villain, and he was the opening act! After that, we did get some fascinating characters, but they were under-developed and I never quite felt attached to them. Palace 2 had a good villain whose only major problem was following Kamoshida, but Palace 5 was horrifically bad. The one thing I will disagree with swordz on is the text messages - it felt a lot more realistic.

Royal did add one more act that would get a slightly higher rating, especially since the original final act being fighting a god for the sake of it was unsatisfying. The final scene of Royal is terrible, however.

It's still got more fun gameplay than 3 and 4, but that's because those games show their age. 3 makes up for it with a good story while 4 makes up for it with fun character interactions that make the party legit feel like the player's friends.

Oh, not Royal.

Change to 7.5

9.4

S-Links are awesome, main plot is very good. Loved the Igor twist. Game is full of great characters, too. Main weakness is the interactions between the party members as a group, but that's a fairly small part of the game.

Im not saying its not realistic. Im saying it was painfully boring reading all their texts which almost always felt like the exact same Im bored are we doing Phantom stuff tonight? or when should we send the calling card? type of stuff. It felt like they rarely even texted anything remotely fun or interesting to read.

TheArkOfTurus posted...

Oh, not Royal.

Change to 7.5

I mean I doubt Royal will be rated separately since the new content is not a separate game so I'd just go ahead and factor it in

9.5

Yes, things falter slightly after Kamoshida, but not by much.

7.5

Hm.

7/10

Think it has the weakest story out of 3/4/5 but it's still pretty good. Maybe having to wait almost 10 years after 4 set unrealistic expectations for me but ehh. But yeah I would just be echoing others thoughts now.

Though side note: I think Ryuji is the worst cast member by far out of the 3 main Persona games. Yes, worse than your typical most hated characters like Ken, Yukari, and Teddie. Fucking Ryuji.

Ryuji is my most hated character PERIOD. Seriously, fuck that guy. The amount of times he accidentally sabotages the party or makes Joker and other people look dumb in front of other people cause he won't fucking shut up is just....GAH! I just want to replace him with literally any other character. Even Hope from FFXIII isn't near this bad.

Which is sad, because in his Social Link, he's actually halfway decent. It's just amazing how fucking stupid and a fucking homewrecker he is. I know you "need" characters like that and they are meant to be unlikeable, but holy fucking shit.

Morgana is worse than Ryuji.

9.5/10

The fact that it managed to keep me engaged for 100+ hours speaks volumes. There was never a point in the story where I found my interest waning. Props to the writers for using a frame tale to give the story juice at the start (unlike 4, which opens at a snail's pace) and lasting intrigue all the way to Sae's palace.

The main story, the side characters, the NPC confidants, the villains... almost all of them were memorable and strong.

Only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because the early parts of the story are better than the later ones.

LeonhartFour posted...

Morgana is worse than Ryuji.

Not when Ryuji piles on Morgana about 2-3 times as often as the reverse. The derp moment of the party setting Ryuji up to apologizing...just for him to fail so spectacularly was the last straw...

Actually no. Getting caught by Makoto was....no. It was Operation Maidwatch.

No wait. It was...GAH fucking christ. I'm getting PTSD.

LeonhartFour posted...

Morgana is worse than Ryuji.

I loved them both. Never understood the hate for them.

Ann is bland, Haru is rushed, and Yusuke fades away after his palace. The rest of the main cast is dynamite.

MysteriousStan posted...

Yes, worse than your typical most hated characters like Ken, Yukari, and Teddie. Fucking Ryuji.

Nobody is worse than Teddie.

Vanilla: 8/10
Royal: 9/10

It has some issues, but Kamoshida, Murasame, Futaba's mom, and Shido were great villains/story arcs, but there was a bit of a lull in the middle, and the last segment wasn't the best. The individual character stories were also strong, although there were a few dud S.Links. Royal gets a bonus point because the Yoshizawa and Maruki arc is fantastic

Strife2 posted...

Not when Ryuji piles on Morgana about 2-3 times as often as the reverse.

Morgana takes cheap shots at Ryuji whenever he can, so I can't agree with this assessment.

plus Morgana is responsible for the single worst part of the game

Strife2 posted...

Ryuji is my most hated character PERIOD. Seriously, fuck that guy. The amount of times he accidentally sabotages the party or makes Joker and other people look dumb in front of other people cause he won't fucking shut up is just....GAH! I just want to replace him with literally any other character. Even Hope from FFXIII isn't near this bad.

Which is sad, because in his Social Link, he's actually halfway decent. It's just amazing how fucking stupid and a fucking homewrecker he is. I know you "need" characters like that and they are meant to be unlikeable, but holy fucking shit.

A fellow Ryuji hater, excellent! All of this is spot on. The amount of times he fucks up is just...ugh.

plasmabeam posted...

Nobody is worse than Teddie.

Yup, Teddie's by far the worst character in the series.

9

3 / 10

I think this story is garbage that fails to be carried by great S Links. Worst part is the pacing, which is very, very, very bad, one of the worst of any major game I've ever played. Dialogue is bad, cast is bad, chemistry is bad, and the narrative fails to deliver on its own premise.

If P5 didn't have extremely stylish aesthetics and great music then people wouldn't care about its story nearly as much. It tricks people onto thinking that everything is cooler than it actually is. The game is the biggest example of style over substance I've ever seen.

Strife2 posted...

Not when Ryuji piles on Morgana about 2-3 times as often as the reverse.

I'm pretty sure this is factually untrue. Like if you counted the instances of this happening in both directions than Morgana wins easily.

I like Teddie

and sometimes style over substance is okay

Teddie is excellent and Ryuji does indeed suck

Not for 100 hours! The aesthetics stopped dazzling me long before then.

In fairness Ryuji deserves to be insulted. The moron cant even go 5 minutes in public without screaming at the top of his lungs that hes a Phantom Thief and hes only lucky nobody ever cared he did so. Most of his dialogue is constant complaints and hes just not good. He kinda makes you want somebody to punch him in the face often

swordz9 posted...

In fairness Ryuji deserves to be insulted.

and in fairness as does Morgana

Ryuji and Morgana can both be bad

I didnt say Morgana didnt. If Ryuji was in P4 literally the entire cast would dunk on him constantly though

9

7

10

Royal and Strikers have retroactively made the story and characters better than it was for me.

7

I was completely engrossed by this game while I was playing it, but looking back the parts I remember best are the music and how good it felt to play. The story itself doesn't really have any great stand-out moments for me. Hearing the villains rant about how evil they are is kind of lame. I think it would be improved if it had more moral complexity or inner conflict from the main characters. This whole series is indeed style over substance but the previous two games have a little more of those two things. Still, it does deserve props for how immaculate the presentation is.

8.5/10

Can also confirm that Teddie is the worst Persona character. Awful.

Teddie definitely seems to be like him or hate him. I like him, but even at his worst like in PQ I still like him far more than the worst characters from 3-5.

7

Teddie is responsible for several incredible moments in P4, so even if his character is annoying sometimes, he's worth it for that alone

Morgana's big moments actively drag down the game

7.5. I liked the individual Rulers and the party members' arcs, but the overarching plot was weaker and I didn't enjoy the endgame dungeons. Royal improves that aspect a lot and gets a much better score.

7.5/10

The ending kinda drags on, some party members didn't get the focus they deserve, but the way the story is presented is top notch.

swordz9 posted...

I didnt say Morgana didnt. If Ryuji was in P4 literally the entire cast would dunk on him constantly though

Well yeah they all constantly dunk on each other, they're teenagers

Yeah, Im just saying it wouldnt have been mostly Morgana. Everyone wouldve done it to Ryuji because hes a moron who never knows when to shut the hell up.

Eh, it's not the same thing. Morgana just takes cheap shots for no reason at Ryuji all the time, and then gets offended and leaves when Ryuji finally gets tired of dealing with it.

KamikazePotato posted...

Worst part is the pacing, which is very, very, very bad, one of the worst of any major game I've ever played.

Wow. Did you play P4G? I thought that was a total slog compared to P5.

6