Persona 5

[cmdrdredd]

Anyone else really excited about this? The game is getting fantastic reviews from everywhere. It appears to have a ton of content as well. Could be a GOTY contender but of course being a JRPG it is a bit of a niche title and not as universally popular.

Anyway it's looking good.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Man, I want to be, but honestly I am trying to grind my way through Persona 4 and I just find it that...a grind. I am not enjoying it at all - even though I find the story interesting.

I will probably break down and get it eventually though.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Man, I want to be, but honestly I am trying to grind my way through Persona 4 and I just find it that...a grind. I am not enjoying it at all - even though I find the story interesting.

I will probably break down and get it eventually though.

I didn't have much of a problem with the grind personally but it definitely is the worst part of the games. The dungeon crawl with repetitive music, repetitive fodder enemies, and corridors that all look the same. The rest of the game is really great. Building relationships with friends and using your time wisely in order to unlock new personas to use in battle and combining cards to change skills is really well done. The voice acting is really good, the music is good, the story has a lot of twists and can end up in multiple conclusions.

 

[Aikouka]

It's probably worth noting that Persona 4 uses randomized dungeons where Persona 5 uses static, designed dungeons. That might help with the "corridors that all look the same" complaint as sameness is a common issue with procedurally generated content.

I've got the Take Your Heart edition coming in tomorrow. I really just wanted a jRPG that's more like a normal one rather than the whole "make everything action-oriented" push that we're seeing these days. While Persona is more of a jRPG mixed with a life simulator, it's still a lot closer to what I want.

 

[cmdrdredd]

At least the life simulator part is high quality with these titles and the humor is pretty good at times.

I originally had pre-ordered the take your heart edition but changed my mind. I don't think I really want all the extras.

 

[ImpulsE69]

As I am playing it currently. I can tell you P4 are not random - at least not in the same game.

 

[smackababy]

Got this today, but I have to wait for the weekend to play it.

 

[cmdrdredd]

My copy will come in tomorrow. Amazon was late because the post office is terrible. They credited me for a month of prime though. I'll probably not play it immediately tomorrow. Want to have some time to dig in

 

[Aikouka]

I got a chance to play it a bit, and there are two things I'd like to see changed...

1. You can't use the joystick to choose dialog/action options.
2. There aren't subtitles for some dialog in cutscenes (e.g. the news reporter).

#2 isn't the worst as I can understand some of it anyway, but #1 can be annoying as you have to switch from the joystick to the d-pad a lot.

 

[Anubis]

the game disables all share functions on the PS4

 

[cmdrdredd]

I got a chance to play it a bit, and there are two things I'd like to see changed...

1. You can't use the joystick to choose dialog/action options.
2. There aren't subtitles for some dialog in cutscenes (e.g. the news reporter).

#2 isn't the worst as I can understand some of it anyway, but #1 can be annoying as you have to switch from the joystick to the d-pad a lot.

No subtitles if I was playing with Japanese voices would be terrible.

About the share functions, I don't use them but why would they be entirely disabled? I know some games lock it out of certain scenes but for the entire game?

 

[Aikouka]

No subtitles if I was playing with Japanese voices would be terrible

When people in a scene were talking, it had subtitles. It was things like broadcast voices (TV, PA systems, etc.) that lacked subtitles. For example, right in the beginning, you get off a subway train and there's the usual PA voice detailing station information, which isn't subtitled. Interestingly enough, the subtitle font looked a lot like an early 2000s fansub.

About the share functions, I don't use them but why would they be entirely disabled? I know some games lock it out of certain scenes but for the entire game?

I swear it turned it back on at one point, but I do know that when I quit out of my game (back to the main title screen), the console popped up that option stating that user recording was now enabled again.

 

[Aikouka]

I didn't get a chance to play a ton yesterday, and I'm only about three hours in, but I'm already feeling like the story is written in a meandering way. I'm at the first "palace" (think of it as a dungeon), and I've already gone in there twice, and there's still no resolution to that conflict. It's not so bad since, as the introductory dungeon, it includes a bit of a tutorial aspect; however, it does make me wonder if the rest of the game's story will have that much of a slow pacing.

As I mentioned, the game regularly gives you dialog responses, which affects how characters react to you. (Think of Persona as a Life/Dating Sim + jRPG) Two of these choices really stuck out to me yesterday, and not in a good way. One of them was just a facepalm-worthy option "You jelly?" in response to a character commenting on your appearance. The other was when a character was asking if you'd help them with a plan, so being the good guy, I selected "What plan?" I figured it was more like "What plan? Tell me more about it!", but it was actually, "Hah! What plan? See ya, sucker!" Keep in mind that a point of these games is the relationship between characters, so there is a point to behaving in a certain way.

Oh, and the teacher also asks you questions in class, and you do get some non-battle character stat bonuses if you answer them correctly. The first one was a Roman philosophical question.

 

[KentState]

Got it Tuesday, but have too many things to play right now. Deciding if that's next after Mass Effect or if I should start Horizon.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I didn't get a chance to play a ton yesterday, and I'm only about three hours in, but I'm already feeling like the story is written in a meandering way. I'm at the first "palace" (think of it as a dungeon), and I've already gone in there twice, and there's still no resolution to that conflict. It's not so bad since, as the introductory dungeon, it includes a bit of a tutorial aspect; however, it does make me wonder if the rest of the game's story will have that much of a slow pacing.

As I mentioned, the game regularly gives you dialog responses, which affects how characters react to you. (Think of Persona as a Life/Dating Sim + jRPG) Two of these choices really stuck out to me yesterday, and not in a good way. One of them was just a facepalm-worthy option "You jelly?" in response to a character commenting on your appearance. The other was when a character was asking if you'd help them with a plan, so being the good guy, I selected "What plan?" I figured it was more like "What plan? Tell me more about it!", but it was actually, "Hah! What plan? See ya, sucker!" Keep in mind that a point of these games is the relationship between characters, so there is a point to behaving in a certain way.

Oh, and the teacher also asks you questions in class, and you do get some non-battle character stat bonuses if you answer them correctly. The first one was a Roman philosophical question.

Aside from the nonsensical dialog options it seems like the same as the previous Persona games. Not having fired it up yet I can't say for certain from my own perspective. You did have times when you'd get a question in class and bonuses if you answered correctly. There was also a test in Persona 4 where if you aced it, you build one friendship even further from what I remember.

None of the reviews I read said anything about slow story progression. Maybe it's just the tutorial parts that once over will allow a better pace.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Woah...the beginning of the story is kind of stupid, no make that very stupid. Very, very minor spoilers.

Spoiler

A drunk dude is harassing a woman and the protagonist tries to intervene and the drunk guy trips over himself and bumps his head and sues the protagonist who gets 1 year probation, is expelled from school, and is forced to move away from home and live alone as a teenager? Now everyone treats him like he's a drug dealer or some hardcore criminal? Did the woman not testify in his favor or what kind of crap is that? I don't even think in the most backwards society it makes any sense

 

[Revolution 11]

Woah...the beginning of the story is kind of stupid, no make that very stupid. Very, very minor spoilers.

Spoiler

A drunk dude is harassing a woman and the protagonist tries to intervene and the drunk guy trips over himself and bumps his head and sues the protagonist who gets 1 year probation, is expelled from school, and is forced to move away from home and live alone as a teenager? Now everyone treats him like he's a drug dealer or some hardcore criminal? Did the woman not testify in his favor or what kind of crap is that? I don't even think in the most backwards society it makes any sense

The implication is that the dude is related to some very powerful political people and so

Spoiler

the woman may not want to testify for harassment or honor reasons and you shoulder all the blame.

I read it as developer criticism of parts of Japanese society, which indeed is quite backwards.

 

[Aikouka]

Woah...the beginning of the story is kind of stupid, no make that very stupid. Very, very minor spoilers.

Spoiler

A drunk dude is harassing a woman and the protagonist tries to intervene and the drunk guy trips over himself and bumps his head and sues the protagonist who gets 1 year probation, is expelled from school, and is forced to move away from home and live alone as a teenager? Now everyone treats him like he's a drug dealer or some hardcore criminal? Did the woman not testify in his favor or what kind of crap is that? I don't even think in the most backwards society it makes any sense

It did seem really weird (arguably a bit cultural), but I'd say that it goes along with the idea of the game being a crusade against corruption.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The biggest problem for me is how everyone acts like he's a pedophile instead of some kid who tried to do the right thing and bad circumstances happened. Instead of "look I know you're not really a bad kid and had some bad stuff happen, but I can't ignore the fact that you have a record." it's "you're that criminal aren't you? Don't cause trouble or I'll kick you out and you'll go to jail!" Though I'm not far into the game so I don't know how it plays into the main theme that well. The beginning makes almost no sense as you're thrust into a storyline that has already moved along a bit when you get the reigns. It seems like Persona 4 progressed a bit differently at the beginning from what I remember. I feel like I had more time to absorb the situation so far.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Really not liking the hold up mechanic in order to talk to shadows and ask them to join. 9 times out of 10 the element they are weak to will kill them and I don't get the opportunity

 

[ReversedSpork]

I haven't really been able to get into the game. Maybe it's because I'm not really that far in it yet. I really had fun with it at the beginning then it just died down.

 

[cmdrdredd]

How far in are you? I like the day to day stuff much more than the dungeons myself. I think the idea behind mementos is absolutely terrible as well. Now there is a second dungeon to work through in addition to the main one you have a time limit for and you have to find time to built social links which are gated behind social skills you have to level by doing other things. Ugh

 

[A Casual Fitz]

I'm just about done this game, and while it had some painfully grindy moments (Instant game over if the hero falls, wtf sometimes...?) I absolutely adored it.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I loved this game so much I bought a PS2, Playstation TV, and a 3DS to play the rest of the Persona / Shin Megami Tensei series. I can't wait for Shin Megami Tensei V on the Switch. Just started a New Game + in P5 and god I love the music and the art style.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

I have too many other games on backlog to do all of that, and I think P5 is unrelated to the others in terms of story, right? I might pick up an older one if it's remastered on PS4.