Persona 5 (PS4) Review

A journey of justice, fame, and treasure!

 It's been almost a decade since the last entry in the Shin Megami Tensei's Persona sub-series since 2008's outstanding Persona 4, which was released back on the PlayStation 2 days. Memorable characters, a premise full of twists and turns, great gameplay, and kick-ass soundtrack made me fall in love Persona 4 and with RPGs in general. Alongside Final Fantasy VII and Tales of Symphoina, I do consider it one of the best JRPGs ever made and among my favorites. Persona 5 is the latest entry in the series and after years of waiting and teasing, it's finally been released. Since then, I've been exploring and uncovering what the game has to offer, though I took a little hiatus from reviewing some games as a result. Nevertheless, after spending hours upon hours in Persona 5, I had fun with it and it does expand over its predecessors in terms of gameplay and presentation. So, without further delay, it's time wake up, get up, and get out there and review the much-anticipated Persona 5! 


STORY- You take the role of a student  transferring to Shujin Academy under probation after being falsely accused of assault. During his stay at Shujin, he meets and befriends other fellow students who are wronged by adults and form "The Phantom Thieves" using the powers of their "persona". Their main objective to change the hearts of corrupt adults and to do this, they enter the "Metaverse", a mysterious world in which they can use their persona powers and enter their targets "palaces" to steal their hearts. Without spoiling much of the plot, since the game is pretty story-heavy, Persona 5 was a fun and engaging ride from start to finish. The characters were great as well, though I definitely need a second play-through to see through their individual stories. While it does have some pretty shocking revelations, I did find a particular plot twists coming a mile away. Still, the narrative is made engaging by a relatable cast of characters, plot-twits, and the occasional humor, often by the use of fan-service. 

They're here to steal your heart.

GAMEPLAY-  Like the games before it, Persona 5 is a turn-based Japanese role-playing game with social sim elements to it. In daily life, you attend school, partake in part-time jobs and activities, spend time with your friends, and study for upcoming tests. The Social Link system of previous games return in the form of "Confidant". Basically, characters (confidants) you meet and bond with can have direct influence on gameplay since you can unlock new perks and abilities for you and your teammates. They also play a role in persona fusion, which we'll get to later on. Pretty mundane sounding until you take the life of a Phantom Thief. By using the Metaverse app on your phone, you can enter the palaces of your targets and work your way to stealing their hearts. Before venturing into palaces or dungeons, or whatever you want to call it, you must first take not that you have a limited time frame to steal their hearts. Failure to do so, will result with the police apprehending you and an instant "game over" screen, so you have to carefully juggle between your daily and thief lives.

Juggle between living as a normal high school

student and full-fledged phantom thief.

 The core gameplay has you navigating inside dungeons with three other party members, each having their own abilities and weaknesses. For example, Morgana is a great healer but is weak to electric-based attacks, so be weary when bringing to fights with enemies who deal electrics attacks. Stealth is highly encouraged by the game since doing so will easily let you surprise attack enemies and have them at a disadvantage. When in battle, you have access to short and long ranges weapons such as a knife and gun, respectively. You can also use your persona to deal elemental damage as well. However, you'll have to use your weapons accordingly since most enemies can resist or worst-case reflect your attack on you. When exploiting an enemy's weakness, however, you gain an extra turn to finish them off. If there's a single enemy that's been downed, you can go in with your teammates for an All-out attack, which on most occasions can instantly kill the enemy.

You'll never see it comiiiiiiiing!

 
 A new mechanic to Persona 5 is the "Negotiation" feature of the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games. When outmatched, they'll plead for their lives by lending their services by becoming your demons (err, I mean Persona), but you'll have to give them a good impression of you by persuading them. They can also offer you an item, or just straight up throw some money on your way. Things can go for the worse when a party member is knocked out during battles is taken hostage by the enemy, this is where the second side of the negotiation occurs. In order to ensure teammate's wellbeing, you'll have to comply with what the enemy wants by either giving them an item, money, or some of your health. Furthermore, the "Thieves Guild", a mechanic similar to Persona 4 Golden's "Vox Populi" in which you communicate with other plays by sharing messages, providing help in battles, and get answers to questions in school.

Gameplay has you attacking and using items wisely

when up against some serious powerful enemies.

 The Velvet Room of previous games return in the form of a prison this time around run by the long-nosed Igor and twin wardens, Caroline and Justine. Here, you can fuse personas in a number of ways to give you a little boost on your journey. These range from using the Guillotine to the electric chair, all in the name of your justice, poor personas though. By raising your bond with a confidant with same arcana of a persona you want via fusion, it will gain additional experience points and learn new moves as a result. It's a nice mechanic, which encourages you to get out there and meet new people in order to improve yourself as a skilled thief.

Get ready to hop into the Catmobile.

 Finally, let's talk a bit about the game's palaces and the Persona 3 Tartarus-inspired dungeon, Mementos. The early palaces had some great pacing and some nice moments, which I liked. However, by the end of the game, I felt that the palaces and bosses tended to drag on for a while and I was just wishing for it to end already, but I guess that's just me. Mementos primarily functions similar to the aforementioned Tartarus. Where Tartarus had you going up, Mementos has you going down floor after floor taking down boss via side-quests and grinding for those precious experience and money. It's an optional area for the majority of the game till the end-game section due to story-related events. I didn't mind Mementos at first since it was a decent way of netting myself some money on the fly, but when I got deeper and deeper, I started to feel a little bored of it. Hell, even the music isn't all that interesting.   

PRESENTATION- Persona 5 is among the best-looking games of the year. Despite it being developed for the PlayStation 3, it transitioned fairly well on the PS4. The character models are detailed at times, and the backgrounds are colorful as well. I liked the anime cut-scenes and thought they were  excellent thanks to anime studio Production I.G of Ghost in the Shell fame. My only gripe is that the game runs at 30FPS, which I'll be honest, a game like Persona 5 didn't need but could have benefited from it nonetheless. The voice acting may divide some fans with the English dub being off-key with the pronunciation of some names. Fortunately, the Japanese voices are available for free via PlayStation Network, so that's great. I honestly didn't mind the English dub since it really grew on me at the end and I'm thinking of ticking to it on my second play-through. Ah, the bulk of every Persona game, the soundtrack. Persona 5 takes a jazzier tone to fit the game's picaresque style. Tracks such as "Behind the Mask", "Wake up, get up, get out there", and "Rivers in the Desert" are strong highlights of the game and to long-time composer, Shoji Meguro's genius.

The Persona games always pack impressive production
values,  Persona 5 is no different.

OVERALL- Persona 5 is a huge game. During my first play-through I clocked in 87 hours and still didn't manage to see through additional content, prompting me to start a second play-through soon. I still hold Persona 4 dear, but I'd be lying if didn't say Persona 5 improves upon it in nearly every way. Definitely one of the best JRPGs I've played and stands out as the year's best. The story's good, the gameplay's great, and it looks and sounds fantastic. Get up, get out, and play it!