Board 8 > Just finished Persona 5 *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Didn't max Haru or the Gamer Kid. :(

Overall, pretty good!

There were some pretty slooow parts that gave me trouble continuing (particularly around Futaba's and Okumura's dungeons), because the game overall was formulaic due to its structure. Then again, P3 and 4 weren't much different.

I enjoy that the game ties gameplay bonuses to Confidant levels. Yet some bonuses are better than others (poor Ohya).

I stayed true to Ryuji my one true love for the whole game. But if I had to choose between the girls, I think I'd go for Haru with Tae as close second. Futaba is really fun as a character but she's a bit...young. Even for Joker.

As for the main story, well, it kinda ties everything neatly to Shido (for the real world stuff) and Mementos (for the Metaverse stuff) so that's cool. However, I'm a bit sad we didn't get anything about Akechi after his sacrifice.

The Igor being an impostor is kinda genius. So THAT'S why his voice is so weird.

And I LOVE the ending. Going for a road trip is such a cool idea. LOL @ Morgana having to tune up the car by himself. And it worked somehow.

Gameplay is alright. I still think I'd rather have less elemental attributes. I mean, they do add to the combat somewhat, but most of the time I don't really make use of them...

I'd rather cheese the game with Miracle Punch/One-Shot Kill. Crits spam is best spam.

Looking back, as for the cast, P3 = P5 >>> P4.

P3's was my first and I just love the feeling of bonding over a dreadful incoming catastrophe. P4's is eh, just typical high school kids (which is not bad, necessarily, but more commonplace). P5's hits the sweet spot between relatable and serious business.

My regret was spending too much time maxing Knowledge (since there are so many opportunities to raise it at school and while spending time with Togo) and not enough time maxing Guts for Iwai's skill check.

Also not going to Mementos with more targets at once...

And now I'm looking forward to P5R! Man, it would be so good if we can use P5 data for...something.
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Makoto >= Kawakami > All
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Hifumi for life

My hype for P5R is overflowing
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Raka_Putra posted...

However, I'm a bit sad we didn't get anything about Akechi after his sacrifice.

you can tinfoil hat about how he still appears to bust you in the time out sequence for shido's palace even if he's already sacrificed himself in the palace

or just dread the inevitable redemption arc that we're gonna get in royal

Makoto is the best character and it's not close tbqh.
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xp1337 posted...

or just dread the inevitable redemption arc that we're gonna get in royal

I mean they avoided it in P4G so maybe they'll avoid it in P5R

Raka_Putra posted...

Looking back, as for the cast, P3 = P5 >>> P4.

now this is one hot take

P4 is one of the best JRPG casts period
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Akechi is already revealed to be playable in his Black Mask outfit in the P5R trailers, so remains to be seen how they make that happen without it being an asspull.
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LeonhartFour posted...

I mean they avoided it in P4G so maybe they'll avoid it in P5R

excuse me they gave him an ending and he encourages you in the final boss s-link roulette!

I also think the positions are different since you're dealing with a primary villain in P4 where Akechi is more secondary. You'd have to rework the plot quite a bit to go redemption in P4 (think Shido for comparison) whereas Akechi there's less of a barrier.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if we dodge it though! Expand on his character/background, yes! Not sure I want the redemption story though.
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Shadow Dino posted...

Akechi is already revealed to be playable in his Black Mask outfit in the P5R trailers, so remains to be seen how they make that happen without it being an asspull.

There's always that popular theory about much of the additions in Royal. I'm pretty sold on it, tbqh.
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They gave him an ending that made you his accomplice and let him get away with everything! He's not in the least bit repentant in the new material in Golden. He just acknowledges that he's been bested by Narukami and accepts his loss.

Akechi is also absurdly popular in Japan so of course he's going to get a bunch of new content
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I wasn't being serious about that part! You're right they didn't go redemption in P4G but I maintain that the plot would have made that exceedingly difficult to do without going full BS. Too central a role to alter like that.
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I dont think they can redeem him popularity be damned. It would be super lame if they do considering how many deaths hes responsible for >__>

Well, I don't know how much of the plot they'll actually try to change outright. One of the nice things about P3 and P4's updated ports is that they added new content but rarely actually fundamentally changed the plot.
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Akechi's random "now I must sacrifice myself for you after being evil for 99% of the game" is one of the worst-written examples of that trope I've ever seen, which is saying something. Any changes they make to that will be an improvement.
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LeonhartFour posted...

now this is one hot take

I agree exactly with it and I think a lot of people do. The P4 weaboo waifu obsessed fanbase is just too loud that it seems like a ridiculous opinion.

I really liked how P5 ended too. But everything from like 40% to 90% of the way through was kind of a slog. P3 still had the best plot momentum in that regard, plus it had the super strong ending also. P5R could fix a lot of that too, especially with Akechi.
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foolm0r0n posted...

I agree exactly with it and I think a lot of people do.

I mean I'm sure a lot of people do but I don't think it's that common of an opinion though

I feel like P5 is more waifu obsessed than P4 is though

this topic is proof enough...!
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Make it clear that Akechi's psychotic break at the end there is because he had convinced himself that all his evil actions were "necessary" for his revenge plan (but don't try to make said plan itself too sympathetic because it's not) only to learn via the Phantom Thieves that there was a way to fundamentally accomplish his objective of getting revenge on Shido without having to leave a trail of blood behind him but he just never knew about changes of hearts because he didn't have a Morgana figure.

Like, ugh, there's enough potential around Akechi's character to be quite good but it's all wasted.
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you've convinced me that P5R needs an evil Morgana counterpart now
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foolm0r0n posted...

I agree exactly with it and I think a lot of people do. The P4 weaboo waifu obsessed fanbase is just too loud that it seems like a ridiculous opinion.

Overall cast quality aside, P5 has inspired more waifuism than P3 and P4 combined.
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My friend speculated that they will rewrite a significant part of the main story if we're really going to have Akechi as a permanent party member.

After all, now we have Kasumi as the guest party member instead!

I mean, I personally don't really mind that Akechi sacrificed himself because his main goal was to take down Shido. And that coincided with letting the Phantom Thieves live.

But if we're going with fully redeeming him, then his crimes would have to be lessened. Especially killing Haru's dad is a no-no. That would just make things very awkward.

Also, I find it funny that Justice and Judgment just level up automatically willy-nilly. Reminded me of hiimdaisy's comic.

Yosuke: This steak is awesome!
*fanfare* SOCIAL LINK UP

I mean, Akechi especially seems to only hate Joker more in his later Confidant scenes except for the last one. >_>
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Can't wait for the Shido S Link

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I think it's especially funny when you consider how fast Judgment must rank up in real-time. He starts and maxes a social link in the course of a conversation lol.
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KamikazePotato posted...

foolm0r0n posted...

I agree exactly with it and I think a lot of people do. The P4 weaboo waifu obsessed fanbase is just too loud that it seems like a ridiculous opinion.

Overall cast quality aside, P5 has inspired more waifuism than P3 and P4 combined.

It's funny because of it feels like we have so many dateable characters in P5 that some would inevitably be sidelined (I'm thinking Ann, Chihaya, and Ohya).

P3 have...Yukari, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Aigis, Yuko, Chihiro.
P4 have Chie, Yukiko, Rise, Naoto, Marie, Ai, Yumi/Akane.
P5 have Ann, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Tae, Kawakami, Ohya, Hifumi, Chihaya.

The dev definitely included more dateable characters.
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Well, I'd say it's more of a representation of how much Sae gradually comes to believe his story over the course of their 80 hour conversation especially since the facts keep lining up too often just to be coincidence
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Maybe we'll have Akechi as the gay route. It worked okay for Fire Emblem!

xp1337 posted...

I think it's especially funny when you consider how fast Judgment must rank up in real-time. He starts and maxes a social link in the course of a conversation lol.

Good point lol.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Well, I'd say it's more of a representation of how much Sae gradually comes to believe his story over the course of their 80 hour conversation especially since the facts keep lining up too often just to be coincidence

No, I get it, the framing conversation makes it so it feels spaced out. It's just funny that Social Links are generally treated as though maxing one represents a lifelong, unbreakable bond and Joker manages to form one in a single conversation. Realistically that interrogation couldn't have been more than a few hours!

Like with Iwai Joker does undercover work for Iwai and even puts his life on the line but Sae is like "yep your story checks out. i'm ride or die"
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persona is the only rpg series i've enjoyed recently outside of nostalgia

even considering there was an intentional (and in my opinion more true to life) gag where every time the crew tried to have fun it would be ruined by something, i still wish the party had more bonding time/rapport

the individual social link stories were pretty great. in my dream persona game, their emotional progress would be reflected in the main story scenes (ann and ryuji in particular stand out as characters that could benefit)

combat was obviously improved. i really enjoy the social/daily life aspects with a heroic night life as a backdrop, but sometimes i wish the dungeons were shorter- i'd spend 4+ hours in a row in the same dungeon because i wanted to minimize the number of game nights taken up by battle. and that's my fault.

Oh, and to answer the actual poll, Tae was easily my favorite. Kawakami had the funniest/dumbest plotline. Stop trying to ship Makoto, game!
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well I think P5 calls them Confidants and not Social Links for a reason

it almost seems like a system of mutual benefit rather than lifelong bonds in a lot of cases

banananor posted...

Stop trying to ship Makoto, game!

didn't ship it hard enough imhotbqh
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banananor posted...

the individual social link stories were pretty great. in my dream persona game, their emotional progress would be reflected in the main story scenes (ann and ryuji in particular stand out as characters that could benefit)

Yeah, this is a big thing with the series. P3 at least had the characters' resolve in the main story with the Social Link more about their personal relationship with the MC. That's neat too.

banananor posted...

i'd spend 4+ hours in a row in the same dungeon because i wanted to minimize the number of game nights taken up by battle

Oh, definitely. I think I did most (if not all) dungeons in the least days possible because I hate spending more time than I have to.
It's even worse here because the dungeon takes the time slot of After School where there are many more Confidants to do rather than in the Evening (were there were just like less than half).
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LeonhartFour posted...

didn't ship it hard enough imhotbqh

haha, in some ways i agree. i was just surprised they had her periodically falling into the MC's arms during cutscenes! if they were going for that they should've backed it up with more dialogue/story stuff. her visual and gameplay design is awesome. absolutely a main party member.

Raka_Putra posted...

The dev definitely included more dateable characters.

they absolutely went down the list of romantic interest tropes/archetypes and checked off a lot of those boxes. some were hits and some were misses, but i feel like you're not supposed to engage with an anime-like medium without being a little uncomfortable
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Makoto got like all the best weapons so I had her in my party pretty consistently in late-game. I'm kinda sad that her bike evolved into a Transformer though, I'd rather they keep it as a bike (like they do with the third evo for P5R).

banananor posted...

they absolutely went down the list of romantic interest tropes/archetypes and checked off a lot of those boxes. some were hits and some were misses, but i feel like you're not supposed to engage with an anime-like medium without being a little uncomfortable

True.
I feel like they should've kept Ohya as platonic...I mean, is it that unthinkable that Joker can get close to a woman without them falling for each other...
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yeah I was so sad when Makoto's Persona downgraded and it wasn't a bike anymore
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Ryuji's Persona downgrade was just as tragic. RIP Captain Kidd.
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should've evolved into Vyse imhotbqh

especially now that Sega owns Atlus
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KamikazePotato posted...

Ryuji's Persona downgrade was just as tragic. RIP Captain Kidd.

Yeah, kinda reminds me of Yosuke's.

Overall, it kinda surprises me how different the P5's cast new Persona are. With P3 and P4 many of them share similar design elements (if not the same base rig overall).
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KamikazePotato posted...

Overall cast quality aside, P5 has inspired more waifuism than P3 and P4 combined.

I haven't follow P5 that much online but that seems really unlikely

(although if you count the confidants then it makes sense)
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I feel like I see that more from P4 but that might be because it had nearly a decade headstart.
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I feel like P5 just built on the waifu wars that P4 started and took it to the next level by giving you more options

pretty much any discussion of either game will derail into waifus at some point

much like Mass Effect back in the day

I miss Mass Effect
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I think I just wouldn't refer to most of the relationships in P5 as waifu. Just the main crew (basically just Makoto and Futaba) and possibly Kawakami. But none of those compare to Chie or even Yukiko fanboys.
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For the playable characters P4 definitely had more waifuism.

P4's Social Links got barely any, though.
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Makoto is the Queen (hehe) of waifuism in the series. Her fans are dedicated.

foolm0r0n posted...

(although if you count the confidants then it makes sense)

There's a ton of romanceable Confidants that get a lot of attention, so, yeah.
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foolm0r0n posted...

I think I just wouldn't refer to most of the relationships in P5 as waifu. Just the main crew (basically just Makoto and Futaba) and possibly Kawakami. But none of those compare to Chie or even Yukiko fanboys.

Tae shippers are pretty hardcore about it.
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i felt like i was missing something about waifus based on this topic, and it led me to google waifuism

so thanks for that

Raka_Putra posted...

I feel like they should've kept Ohya as platonic...I mean, is it that unthinkable that Joker can get close to a woman without them falling for each other...

hey, at least they give you the choice in this game! i think it was persona 3 (maybe 4 as well? can't remember) that wouldn't let you get above level 7 without dating
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LeonhartFour posted...

Makoto >= Kawakami > All

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Persona 3 was the game where dating was forced at higher ranks (what rank exactly depended on the character)... also the only one with jealousy mechanics! Persona 4 was the one that introduced the ability to choose a friend route or dating route... which carried into Persona 3 Portable but only for the Female Protagonist.
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banananor posted...

hey, at least they give you the choice in this game! i think it was persona 3 (maybe 4 as well? can't remember) that wouldn't let you get above level 7 without dating

Good point.

Oh boy Reversed/Broken Social Links sure were 'fun'.
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Wheres Sae
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LordoftheMorons posted...

Wheres Sae

P5R maybe.
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LeonhartFour posted...

foolm0r0n posted...

I agree exactly with it and I think a lot of people do.

I mean I'm sure a lot of people do but I don't think it's that common of an opinion though

I feel like P5 is more waifu obsessed than P4 is though

this topic is proof enough...!

It's certainly a hot take on board 8

100% agree though. P4's cast is highly overrated
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I was like "oh man wouldn't it be cool if there was a persona game where the personas were from other series" and then I realized I invented Tokyo Mirage Sessions

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LeonhartFour posted...

should've evolved into Vyse imhotbqh

especially now that Sega owns Atlus

ohmygod please make this so in 5R

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