Persona 5

It is finally here, ladies and gentlemen. The review we have all been waiting for. RPG of the decade, RPG of my hall of fame. Atlus just keeps on surprising the hell out of me with flawlessly designed games. The persona series has been getting tremendous attention since their 3rd game and that seems so long ago. I have been anticipating this game's success since 2010 after beat Persona 4 and having a mind imploding, thought-provoking phase in my life from a video game. Their writers are the best and I haven't seen a more expressive series than Persona, that's not to say Shin Megami Tensei is an unfavorable series, but Persona has a special place in my frail heart.

Without any further delays, lets get right down to our Persona 5 impression. WHY DO I KEEP LIKING THESE GAMES AND THEY ARE IN A SCHOOL SETTING? I hated school, by the way. No one likes school. No one can relate. No one cares (I joke) But yet the Persona writers manage to intrigue me and pull me into a complex and interesting story centered around student life. Persona 4 was all about accepting our true selves despite our flaws and facing our inner demons. Persona 5 feels much more than that, I feel it adds up a lot of themes together in a subtle and not so subtle way without any spoilers.

The biggest step up since Persona 3 and 4 for me was a feature I never thought I'd get to see around was a dungeon design. Persona has been known to have rondomized maps for dungeons and floors upon floors of you going through unknown rooms. The main dungeon's aesthetics was what told you about its story as well as having its own feel but now they have taken it a step further after experimenting with Catherine's design. Each dungeon has its own map, feel and puzzles and I couldn't appreciate something more than that because it stands out the most from this game.

Traversing a dungeon is different here, naturally. Since you are a phantom thief, the game will take a stealthy approach to you ambushing enemies on the field and if you happen to be discovered by them, the dungeon's security level increases until enemies hunt you all over the map, eventually kicking you out of the dungeon if you were discovered. Everything about its design is flawless, where they managed to link the most subtle features of the story to the gameplay and very few game designers do that. Your objective in every dungeon is to change a person's heart so your treasure in the dungeon is what's most dear to the dungeon master's heart in his own perspective. Very poetic and stylistic, everything about Persona 5 stands out! Flashy colors, beautiful character designs, amazing voice acting. Where do I begin and end?

If you have played any Persona game, you know you have your hands full throughout the game managing a social life in a visual novel way and dungeon exploring in a limited amount of time, as well as managing your resources and relationships. There is just not enough time to do everything and some players need New Game plus to experience the scenes they couldn't see aside from the main story itself that takes about 90 hours on average. That is insane! Insanely good! Being the phantom thieves initially sounded super ridiculous and I could see myself favoring Persona 4 because I'm a super fanboy and lo and behold my transformation of loving these characters and growing with them and their real emotions and struggles. Also, just keep in mind that Persona 4 was in an unknown small town. Persona 5 is in the middle of Japan and its huge! So much to do, I am overwhelmed.

Let's get to the fun part, the combat! The Combat in Persona 5 is as surprising as when I first played Persona 4. Let me tell you that I still can't believe how they keep surprising me with new designs that work so well in combat symbiotically with the story. Your characters carry a gun although not in a bad way like Persona 3, they use model guns that work well in the so called parallel dimension by the name of the metaverse, Not only can you melee attack but you can also shoot them and interrogate them, eventually taking their treasure, money or even let these personas join you. Brings back the good old days of Early Persona games into a classical take on it. I was worried that because there was negotiation with personas in this game, it would take a ridiculous amount of time like Persona 2 on the PS1. However, it merely takes 3 seconds to let them join your cause in battle. 

Moving on to the battle flow, it has significantly improved in terms of fluidity, where finding the weakness of your enemies is the same priority, only this time you can pass your turn to another ally using a baton pass, allowing you to pound the enemy more if there were a variety of weaknesses so you can go for an all out attack, where you can obliterate them if they were all unconscious. Boss fights are also imaginative and not just purely about pounding them down to their last health point. I haven't beaten the game until now but every boss fight was different than the one before it. Increasing your social links with your party members allows you to do way more in battle, avoiding status ailments, negotiating easier with enemies, hitting them with a critical attack and much more.

It ain't persona without our friendly neighbor Igor and allowing us to create personas. This time, we get to see a lot of newer features if I'm correct, or maybe it has been a while since I played a Persona game. In Persona 5, what is different for me is how easy it is to collect them and how much I can hold for our protagonist, where it goes up to 12 personas. Your protagonist can switch a persona once a turn as well as fuse them endlessly and recall them for a set amount of money. You can also turn your personas into items and you get your reward depending on their rarity. Last but certainly not the least is turning your persona into a completely different one randomly from the network and surprisingly, that has got me the best results.

If there is any worthwhile obstacle for the first playthrough of any Persona, its the skills you build up towards the end. Usually, I'm so confused on what to focus, each has its own activities, conditions and progress. They open up social links for you and the way you practice them to build them up is different like watching a movie in the theater or reading a book on the way to school or even studying for school. The most important thing here is maximizing your social links but all pillars of the game are intertwined and interconnected. If you dont build skills, you cant increase your social links and if you dont increase your social links, you are at a disadvantage in battle with low level personas and player skills. So naturally, you are progressively building your party members with your own skills.

My biggest advice for any first timers before going into a dungeon or a boss fight is to buy armor before anything else. Items are expensive and you can heal your party members with personas. Buying weapons won't help that much since you can inflict physical damage with your personas until you progress further into the game and have enough cash to buy more armor before anything else. Because let me tell you this, a lot of items are super expensive, you are managing between buying items and weapons, armor and gun customization, books and gifts for your friends. Like I said a hundred times already, lots to do in Persona 5 and its the great kind, the addictive kind of fun!

Similar to the previous games, you are required to spend time with your social links as friends and maybe more than that. You invite them to hangouts, you have lunch or dinner with them, they could come over to your place on off days and you can gift them or perhaps propose to them. They are high maintenance to describe it easily, meaning you'll have to choose the social links you want to maximize by the end of the game or else you'll end up like me, jack-of all trades, friend to everyone and close to none unless you spend more time with a specific friend until you're close with them. Some social links are too much like the ones from the velvet room, they require you to bring them personas with specific skills based on fusion which I believe is a bit too much.

and there you have it, Persona 5 in a nutshell. It has a unique personality among games nowadays and it shines bright with all its quirky moments, insane gameplay and investing atmosphere. There is a lot to do, but most of all, there is nothing more rewarding than feeling involved with a set of characters you barely know and grow to like over a few nights. This picture above is worth it all, laughing it out with these fictional characters, living your days with their emotions and relating to all their struggles whether its cultural, personal or just plain societal issues. I know I said Persona 5 is about a lot of themes, but I think most of all its about breaking free of your chains in a literal and metaphorical way. If that was not enough to excite you for it, nothing will! I hope you pick it up if you haven't already. Enjoy Persona 5 on the PS4, I've been Ahmed Jadaa and see you on my next review!