Persona 5 Review
Infinite > 07-06-2020, 10:29 AM
Persona 5 is an M-rated RPG created by Atlus. Released on April 4, 2017, in the west (September 15, 2016, in Japan) for both PS3 and PS4, this game has stolen the hearts of many gamers as well as a ton of awards. In BTVA (Behind the Voice Actors) Awards, the game won the best male lead and supporting vocal role in a video game. In the NAVGTR (National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers) Awards, it won in Art Direction (Contemporary), Costume Design, Direction in a Game Cinema, Game (Franchise Roleplaying), and Writing in a Drama. Finally, in the Game Awards, it was nominated for Game of the Year and Best Art Direction. So, is this game delicious like pancakes, or is it pathetic?
You play as Ren Amamiya (while he is called Akira Kurusu in the manga, I’m gonna stick with Ren for the review since that is his name in most appearances.), a high-school student put under probation due to being falsely charged with assault for protecting a woman who was being attacked by a drunk man. After moving to Tokyo, he meets his new classmates in Shujin Academy and finds out about the Metaverse, an alternate universe where the distorted desires of people are manifested.
In the Metaverse, if a person’s desires are distorted enough, it becomes a palace which is a dungeon of that person’s desire. If you steal the person’s treasure or heart (the source of the person’s desire) the palace crumbles and the person is penitent and pleads guilty for his crimes. Ren, also known as Joker, and his classmates explore the Metaverse, calling themselves the Phantom Thieves, and stealing the hearts of rotten adults. Later, Ren gets caught and is interrogated by Sae Nijima. Most of the game is trying to piece together what happened between you moving to Japan, to being captured and interrogated.
A few of the characters you first meet in your team are Ryuji Sakamoto (codename: Skull), Ann Takamaki (codename: Panther), and Morgana (codename: Mona). Ryuji was once the star member of the Shujin Academy track team. However, after trying to stand up against the team’s abusive coach (Suguru Kamoshida), his leg was broken and his track team was suspended.
Ann Takamaki is a model in Tokyo. Due to her foreign blood, she has only one friend being Shiho Suzui. Shiho is a part of Kamoshida’s volleyball team. Occasionally, she will have “private training” sessions. After the sessions, however, she gets injuries. To protect Shiho from these physical abuses, Takamaki herself became a victim of Kamoshida's sexual abuses.
Morgana is a cat, despite him insisting he is a human. You first meet him in the first palace being Kamoshida’s. His backstory is mysterious but he is very familiar with the world of the Metaverse. In the real world, he accompanies you as a cat and demands you to go to sleep despite you wanting to do other stuff at night.
There are a ton of other great characters but I wish there were more details into some of the characters like Haru and Arsene.
In this game, you explore the Metaverse as Joker while also bonding with your characters (or confidants) for some sweet rewards to make the game easier as Ren. When you are in the real world, you can bond with your characters as previously mentioned, increase your social stats (intelligence, kindness, etc.), go to school, take on part-time jobs for money, use that money for shopping, and craft items for the Metaverse. You can even have a girlfriend if your bond is strong enough. It seemed very awkward to me, however, that you can have someone like your teacher as a girlfriend.
In the Metaverse, you can explore Mementos which is basically a palace for the general public, take on requests by changing people’s hearts in Mementos, or take on palaces to steal a person’s heart. However, you have a due date to steal a person’s heart so time management is key in this game.
Each day you can craft tools to loot chests in the palaces or Mementos, bond with your confidants, or do stuff like watching a movie to increase your social stats. My main problem with the gameplay is it’s really hard to do everything due to how cramped the calendar is. You have to replay the game since it saves your social stats if you want to bond with everyone.
When battling shadows (enemies in the Metaverse), you can use personas to use magic, a gun, or melee attacks. Every shadow has a certain weakness. If you expose the weakness, they become stunned which allows you to get more money, items, or let me join your team as a persona. All your teammates have a unique persona.
Joker, however, has a special ability called the “Wild Card”, an ability to have more than one persona. You can execute certain personas to make a more powerful persona. You can also turn them into items or exp for your other personas. As your personas level up, they will learn more magical abilities. The game also has a beautiful art-style and fantastic music such as “Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There”, “Beneath the Mask”, “Last Surprise”, etc.
So to recap, when it comes to story, this story is entertaining. My problem is that there were some missed opportunities with some of the characters. The story also seems to drag on a little too long near the end. I give the story an A-.
The gameplay is very fun. I love exploring the Metaverse while also having a “normal” life in the real world. I just don’t like how cramped the game can be with its calendar. I give the gameplay an A.
I absolutely LOVE the soundtrack. There are just so many great pieces in this game. It also first introduces the instrumental and then shows the lyrical version later. I give the soundtrack an A+. Bonus points for the beautiful art-style.
To conclude, Persona 5 is a great game with a great story, gameplay, soundtrack, and art-style.
Though some characters could use more attention and the gameplay could be quite difficult if you aren’t good with time management, I highly recommend this game. I give this game a 9.3/10.
At a Glance: Persona 5
Summary: Explore the Metaverse and change the hearts of rotten adults while also being a normal Japanese high school student.
Rated: M for Mature: Blood, Drug Reference, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence.
Price: PS3: $24.99 PS4: $19.99
Distributor: Atlus
Systems: PS3, PS4
Release Date: April 4, 2017
Rating: 9.3/10
