Omggg you guys are speedy! I'm still on the third dungeon.
Spoiler:
I looove Makoto. She's probably my favourite team member atm. I'm working on getting smarter so I can start working on my social links with her! Once I've completed the third dungeon that is. I really like how the social links now do more than just strengthen your personas. It makes it so hard for me to decide how to spend my time though. I'm like...I wanna spend time with Ann but she's already really good in battle and I could get better medicine by spending time with Takemi so???
Beat it yesterday, going through withdrawals now. Amazing game.
Been collecting my thoughts.
What I liked/loved:
Spoiler:
-I thought the group was an excellent middle ground in between P3's group that was basically "thrown together because circumstances" and P4's "instant best friends the second you defeat their shadow." Many of the party members in P5 are thrown in because of circumstances but they don't immediately become friends and even after that I love how the group will openly « Cow Poopoo » on each other all the time (like Morgana and Ryuji's back and forth, Futaba's banter with Yusuke). You even have some of the back half party members being the psuedo-villain of that arc because they'll refuse to work with you or do something to antagonize the group in real life.
-Starts off very strong with one of the best villains I've seen in games lately
-Lots of s links that seem to have a tangible role in the plot. At least, out of all the ones I did I don't think any of them really bored me other than Sun and Lovers.
-Looove how s links have added gameplay effects other than fusing exp
-Love the change from P4's "party member will take a fatal blow for you at rank 1 in their s link" to P5's making the fatal blow thing at Rank 9. It really felt you had a solid bond with them at that point so that tied in very well.
-Thieves's Guild was a great network feature. I loved pulling that up and seeing what all the P5 players did with their day.
-The inclusion of JP voices (Mamoru Miyano, Tomikazu Sugita, Ikue Ootani oh my )
-REMIND US WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR: CREATING NEW LIFE, CREATING RIVERS IN THE DEEEEEEESERT
-Last Surprise is probably the best battle theme yet in the series. (my love for Mass Destruction is probably due to Stockholm Syndrome at this point)
-Everyone's battle outfits are awesome
-Persona awakening scenes were great even though they looked very painful
-Really liked most of the characters in this game by the end. The only ones that jump out at me with indifference is Morgana. Felt like Ryuji redeemed himself by the end.
-(Mostly) not-randomized dungeons! (Except for Mementos)
-the grungey atmosphere
-Liked how school didn't play much of a role in the story compared to the previous games
What I didn't like/hated:
Spoiler:
-Unless I was missing a button press stealth movement was pretty sluggish and I ended up fighting with the controller several times in the game to get out of a spot I was hiding in
-Second game in a row where Atlus delivers a laaaame final boss theme, « What The Eggplant » is Meguro doing. Rivers in the Desert should've been the final boss theme :/// (But on the other hand, it helped seal the deal on dungeon 7 being my favorite). Will we ever get another Battle for Everyone's Souls I wonder.. P4 kind of had this too with A New World Fool/The Almighty being better than whatever the final boss music was in that game but here it comes off even worse because Rivers is such an amazing boss song.
-The previous complaint ties into this one which is that as a whole I find the OST to be weaker than both of the previous Persona games' soundtracks, and I say this as someone who still has the imported soundtrack on its way to my door. And honestly when it comes down to it I think the decision to have not as many vocal songs in this game ties into that. I thought it was pretty notable that most of my favorite songs in this game were the vocal ones which probably only make up a quarter of the soundtrack. I guess one could say the de-emphasis makes the songs with vocals stand out more but I didn't have this issue with P3/P4. There's still a lot to love about the OST but I can't help but feel underwhelmed. There's also a part of me that wonders if it was unfair to have this be the very next game OST I listen to after Nier's because that ost was phenomenal.
-Few plot contrivances/holes that bothered me
-This was a thing in P4 as well but these games have a bad habit of repeating what they just said over and over again.
-*insert gripe about no female protagonist here*
-*insert gripe about no dateable males (At the very least, Yusuke should've been dateable) here*
-speaking of gay I was prepared for the homophobic scene the reviewers mentioned way back but I was surprised by how... disconnected it was. Like you could eliminate those two scenes and literally nothing would've been lost. That probably annoys me even more because someone on the developer team thought this was so hilarious that it had to be done twice.
-The developers must've ran out of time because Haru's introduction is rushed as hell and as a result she never really feels like a part of the team like everyone else does. And I maxed out her slink and used her on my final team and I ended up liking her a lot which makes me even more annoyed at how she was handled.
-5th dungeon is trash fire that I can't believe they thought was fun. September was easily the worst month of the game. The stint with Morgana also just seemed really poorly written and soured me on his character for the rest of the game and the pacing dragged in this month so badly.
-Most dungeons are too long. I get that the developers don't actually want you to beat the dungeon in one go but man ain't nobody got time for that when I have social links to max and « Cow Poopoo »
-Idk how to word this but I was really bummed at how backseated Ann became from the second Makoto joined the party. Really I could write an essay on how poorly Ann was treated. She deserved better. She just kind of becomes a fanservice vehicle without a proper place in the plot after Makoto joins, sadly. It probably doesn't help that I never used Ann again when Makoto joined the party... she was also the only party member s link I didn't complete oops
-P4 had this same issue but man does P5 know how to wear out its welcome. I still loved the ending and got super emotional by the end but I was also really ready to be done with the game. It started out very strong though, unlike P4.
-Some moral head-scratchers in terms of relationships in this game, with you being able to date multiple older women (including your teacher) when you're a minor (and remember, you can't date any guy who's actually your age!). I know wish fulfillment and everything but I guess it kind of bothers me in a game that's super realistic like this where I wouldn't care at all in a game like Fire Emblem lol.
-The parts where they show what the city is talking about could be cut down. Many of those scenes are so unnecessary and regurgitate what has already been discussed.
Rankings:
Spoiler:
Characters
P5 > P3 >> P4
Story
P3 > P5 > P4
Music
P3 > P4 > P5
Overall
P3 > P5 >> P4
It just doesn't quite get to P3 levels imo, but it's massively better than P4
Party member ranking
Yusuke >>>>>>>>>> Makoto >>>>> Futaba > Akechi > Haru > Ryuji > Ann >>> Morgana
Spoilers if you don't want to know how many there are
Spoiler:
7 > 4 > 2 > 3 > 6 > 1 > 8 > 5
I've seen a lot of hate for 7 and I can't really deny all the faults it has but I really enjoyed it the whole way through. It's very long but it had lots of story stuff sprinkled though to keep me interested and I loooved the music, it was so fitting for the palace owner. Plus it had Rivers in the Desert yaaasss
4 was really nice, felt like it was the only palace where you could separate it from the main plot and it could still stand on its own. The music was also fantastic.
2 get's points for being the only dungeon with a decent length and it's the only palace where you pull off a heist. Reminded me so much of your usual secret spy/thief heist in cartoons.
3 was nice but too long. That vault room...
6 had great atmosphere and music but I hated that you spent pretty much the whole time in the backrooms
1 was agonizingly long but it get's points for being a very fitting palace for the owner
8 had trash safe room placements, my « Harvest Goddess » I was raging so hard at how much I died before getting to the safe rooms. Not to mention the music was ehh and by the time you get here I was burning out on the game pretty badly.
But 5 still takes the cake for being just bad all around. I think the setting is the only thing I liked about it. It was way too long (lol at Morgana: "We're almost there!" *one hour later*). The puzzles were generally frustrating and everything surrounding it was so boring in comparison to the fourth palace. I mentioned this before but September really was the low point of the game.
I beat it last night! All skills maxed and all social links but 3 (didn't go for the twins at all and didn't know Sun ended early). Wish I would have not focused so much on my skills but pretty happy with my first playthrough. In looooove with Futaba. I can relate to her on so many levels. Would love to have romanced Ryuji though, his voice is mmmmm <3.
I managed to get the twins done over the coarse of a single day! I used a guide but I still felt pretty spiffy. I'm in the final days of getting through what I assume in the last Palace so I'm filling all the time I can with Futaba~ I love her QAQ
Started my new game + file last night. Wish I chose a better name; kind of regret the new name I gave to the protagonist (Initial name was Itsu Nekoi and he's now Hiroshi Nakamori). Oh well. Next run I'm definitely going with Chair Kun.
I also finally finished my second run of P3P a few days ago (Left it alone about 3-5 years ago.)
Spoiler:
Female protagonist with Shinji holding her had me tear up.
Ronin19 wrote:Started my new game + file last night. Wish I chose a better name; kind of regret the new name I gave to the protagonist (Initial name was Itsu Nekoi and he's now Hiroshi Nakamori). Oh well. Next run I'm definitely going with Chair Kun.
I also finally finished my second run of P3P a few days ago (Left it alone about 3-5 years ago.)
Spoiler:
Female protagonist with Shinji holding her had me tear up.
Damnit dont send me back down that P3 sob fest! I can't think of either version w/o tearing up!
I couldn't think of a name so I ended up googling the default lol (Akira Kurusu)
I'm halfway in November and I managed to max out lovers, chariot, and sun. Fortune got to 7 and temperance is starting to scale up, so while I may be able to pull out some of them out of the hat in time, it won't be nearly enough. I've barely touched hermit or empress' s links.
I just loooooove lovers' final form persona tho. So cool!!
)
