#P5 has a pretty good gameplay

[emeyuko]

i have been playing persona 5 royal

the game itself is great but the writting is definitely not my thing and in a lot of cases it's poorly done overall so imma put my complains:

-Ann's sexualization is weird but if they all wanted to go with her wanting to feel "sexy" then make the joke fanservice scenes stuff where she's actually giving consent, making jokes of putting her in embarrasing situations she DOESNT want to be in is extremely awful since she's an SA victim

-Joker taking the advantange of older women and then procced to getting groomed for the sake of waifubaiting is very meh considering they literally were critizing Komoshida's creppy ass at the beggining (even if he was indeed 10 times worse, It would never be Kawakami's entire social link okay, Kawakami's herself constanly says how this is NOT okay)

-Kasumi/Sumire was extremely dissapointing, her character conclusion doesn't make sense and the plot could perfectly happends whitout her, she just pretty much exists to be Joker's"ultimate" girlfriend and honestly, she should have been a femc, made royal had a femc instead, an elegante sporty woman that takes very seriously her role as the pt leader, remplace the anime cutscenes with 3d specially bc they look less old now, give what a lot of fans were waiting for in the trailer when it came out, her persona and pt outfit could still be the same and it wouldn't feel out of place c'mon!

-Treat👏Ryuji👏 decently

-Makoto should have been a confidant instead of a phantom thief

-Maruki's arc had potential specially if you interpret it as "the struggles and the thing you were fighting for at the first place is what makes you a person" but it turned out pretty dissapointing imo, the "bad" ending doesn't have any important consequences and the only fully interesting thing for me were Akechi and Joker's interactions

-Haru should have been Okomura's employee, not his daughter, why the actual fuck are you critizing a capitalism fuck and the main character from the arc is a perfect rich girl with daddy issues that fits just fine in society and could take the advantange of capitalism as well

-the game started with Komoshida, one of the villians that had made me feel one of the biggest disgust i got towards a fictional character's actions in all of fiction, to characters i am unable to take seriously, the most decent is probably Shido and even so, it was a big letdown

-i don't like most of the female social links

[theminecraftbee]

having read the content warnings, do you have any personal recommendations on which game to start with? i know p5 is super popular (and 50% off right now) but is there anything about p3 or 4 that would make you say to go for those first?

the answer is "it depends"! honestly, if persona 5 royal is currently 50% off (and i checked, it is currently only 30 dollars on steam, it is actually 50% off), that is a good starting point; there are a LOT of persona fans who would argue with me, but it's the one that REALLY made the series blow up for a reason. it is the most polished of the games, the most likely to make someone who isn't already a jrpg fan like the game (despite it being an EXTREMELY jrpg jrpg, it is like, a known fact that a lot of people play it and go "ohhhh that's why people like it"), and the gameplay is the smoothest and easiest for newcomers.

that said, some additional data points:

you want persona 5 royal, persona 4 golden, or persona 3 reload; that last one is going to be a controversial statement but for someone new to the series, reload is going to be a much easier entry point than trying to play portable (although persona 3 portable is MUCH cheaper, lol), as it has a LOT of modern quality-of-life improvements.

honestly if you just want the cheapest entry point into the series, persona 4 golden is only 20 bucks on steam even when it's not on sale, and is only 13 bucks at the moment. it has a lot more janky elements that reload and royal both have smoothed out, but i personally label persona 4 as my favorite because the characters, man. the characters, the atmosphere, yes, even the high quantities of weird anime bullshit side episodes, i love all of it. it doesn't have the same modern flare and polish as the newer games but it's still got a lot of what makes persona persona. just, uh, be aware the boss design in that game is... questionable at best. (surely, giving this boss more hp makes for a more interesting fight, right?)

persona 3 reload is what i direct you towards if you SPECIFICALLY want to play persona 3. i'll say that storyline-wise, persona 3 probably has the tightest/most effective storytelling. that said, reload is. sigh. 70 dollars. which may VERY WELL NOT BE WORTH IT TO YOU, especially given that portable, for all portable is super, super jank as a port, is only thirteen. the main differences, for the record, is that reload looks and plays so much nicer, actually has cutscenes, is fully voice-acted, and has a LOT of combat and exploration tweaks that make the dungeon crawling way less of a chore.

that said, persona 5 royal? STILL probably my recommendation for a first persona game. it's got flash, panache, a pretty smooth combat system, it's easier for beginners, it takes a lot fewer Very Questionable Writing Swings than p4 (i love p4 it's my favorite but you may have noticed how many caveats i keep throwing at it, curse of my favorite being Like That), and more than anything: palaces are just so much better than the randomly-generated dungeons of p3 and p4. like, if you've only played p5: mementos is basically what EVERY dungeon is like in p3 and p4. you now understand why palaces are such an improvement. you will probably like this one the most as a new persona fan! i just wanted to offer the other options to you as well.

[oakdll]

i finished persona 4 golden !!!

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 4 GOLDEN AHEAD

It’s lowkey insane that they made the final villain a gas station employee, but it was super cool. I really love the story, almost as much as P5R, although the gameplay was definitely worse for me.

Obviously there are differences because of the release dates, but there were a lot of quality of life issues and inconsistencies. The last 5 dungeons or so felt comically easy, none of them took me more than 2 hours, especially with Marie and Izanami’s dungeons which took me less than an hour each, even with exploring every floor to the max.

The lack of Safe Rooms really hurts the level design here. You basically have to do every palace in one session (at least I did because I don’t like Goho-M’s). Being able to have save points before different sections in each P5 Palace was a stroke of genius, and returning to P4 where every floor is basically identical is just boring. I like how each floor is randomly generated, but it also really takes away from the individuality of each dungeon. Pretty much every dungeon has the same random layout, the only differences are the visuals and occasional conditions like with Adachi not allowing you to fight shadows in one of his floors. Compared to P5, the lack of puzzles and insight into the characters really hurts. In P5, the design of each palace gave you insight into its rulers psyche. In P4, you really only get the occasional confrontation with the character and some dialogue at the start of each floor.

There were also WAY too many chances to mess up your ending. There isn’t anything really wrong with having a lot of endings, but having so many points where you can accidentally get a bad ending because you picked an option that wasn’t obviously wrong was ridiculous. I had heard there were a lot of chances to get a bad ending if you aren’t careful, so I used a spoiler free guide. Having to pick like 7 of the right answers in a row to get a good ending is insane.

If I wasn’t spoiled on Adachi before playing, I never would have guessed it. That is good for the story, but having to deduce it yourself is a bit too much to ask of the player. I think P5 did good with prompting you to save your game before game changing events happen. A mix of that and confirming with the player when they are going off-course from the true ending makes the game relatively simple to play through with no guide. with P4, you basically have to look up a guide for the true ending. Having to say “no” when prompted to leave Inaba to get the true ending is insane, if I didn’t know beforehand I would have messed up my entire playthrough. It makes no sense unless you know the story beforehand, especially when no other Persona game asks you to do something like that.

The game is also shockingly bigoted, which goes entirely against the themes of the Persona series and the game itself. Ironically, in a game about pursuing the truth, the made Naoto deny his truth of being trans. They wrote such good queer characters and then came to entirely the wrong conclusion and ruined it all. I still think if you can look past the homophobia and transphobia, the game has phenomenal writing, but it gets really uncomfortable at times.

The nostalgic feeling Inaba gives off and the PS2 graphics really help the vibe of this game. It feels so much warmer than P5, and I am ALWAYS a sucker for a murder mystery. The fog is such a good visual element to the game, and I have a strange obsession with electrical poles, so having those be a frequent set piece is awesome.

The characters are so wonderful, I really wish I had more time to max out all of the social links here, but I think I would have had to skip out on helping Nanako with her homework and I would never do that to her. Nanako and Kanji are both some of my all time favorite Persona characters, they are both so sweet and I would do anything for them. Marie is also one of my favorites, I have no idea why anybody could hate her. Yukiko is amazing, Chie is a lot of fun, and Yosuke is hilarious. Teddie is a freak but I love him but I HATE his blue eyes, Rise is super nice, and Naoto is so cool. The Investigation Team is debatably better than the Phantom Thieves as a main cast, but they are so close for me. The main characters are all just great.

As for social links, I think P5 still has it beat here. The social link cast in P4 is still good, but there aren’t any benefits like in P5 and some of the characters here I REALLY don’t like. Sayoko is an outright pedophile. With Kawakami at least if you don’t choose to romance her in-game she isn’t as much of a creep, while Sayoko actively sexually harasses a high schooler. I also did not like Eri, I didn’t get to spend much time with her but she really could have treated her kid better. I know she’s struggling but she would lash out leave her kid at daycare because he was having more fun there than at home. Naoki was cool, I barely got to spend any time with him but from what I did see he was nice and seeing the grieving process of one of Adachi’s victims was super interesting. For the club social links, I chose Kou and Ayane. Kou was great, one of my favorites but I ended up prioritizing party members and couldn’t max him out. Ayane was nice, I like her arc but her voice acting really ruined a lot of the social link for me. Ai was also nice, but I couldn’t spend too much time with her and I didn’t like her romance subplot. I actually liked Shu a surprising amount, he was one of the few I maxed out because I had extra time in the evenings and I really liked how his arc ended. Hisano was one I really missed out on, I only got to rank 3 with her and from what I saw she was one of the most interesting in the game. Dojima is one of the best social links in all of Persona. He is very similar to Sojiro, but he’s a lot darker. There’s a lot more drama with him than with Sojiro, both of them are amazing, and Dojima’s relationship with Nanako is so sweet. Nanako as well might be my favorite Persona character. She is the sweetest thing ever, and I would do anything for her. Marie’s social link was also great, but I really didn’t like Margaret’s. I don’t like any Persona social link that requires you to go on quests. I didn’t like the Strength confidant in P5, and I don’t like Margaret or the Fox in P4. The fox is better by default because he’s a fox, but neither are super interesting to me.

The music is phenomenal because it’s a Persona game, but the P4 OST might be my single favorite Persona soundtrack. Pursuing My True Self, Signs of Love, Heartbeat Heartbreak, Heaven, Alone, Your Affection, Like a Dream Come True, Youthful Lunch, Reach Out to the Truth, Time to Make History, and Omen are some of my favorites. The only Persona game soundtrack to compare with P4 is P5, Whims of Fate, Beneath the Mask, Alleycat, Our Light, When Mother Was There, Price, and Butterfly Kiss are also up there. P4 is more nostalgic for me, so I think it might take the edge for me.

The story of P4 is also much more complex and interesting than P5. If it weren’t for Maruki’s palace being so good, I would say that P4 definitively has the better story. Adachi being the antagonist was such a phenomenal twist, and I loved him so much up to that point that it hurt even more. His social link is a phenomenal addition, I can’t imagine the game without it. Having so many endings is partially a result of flawed game design, but also the depth in the story. It really feels like an investigation team solving a mystery. Pushing further and further towards the truth throughout every suspect, from Kubo to Namatame to Adachi, and even Izanami if that counts, the game really accomplishes its goal. I haven’t done the accomplice ending, but I might do another playthrough to get it after I finish P3R.

P4G is a really great game, I think it’s a bit more flawed than P5R, but it’s still phenomenal and it’s not like P5 has no flaws either. P4 really excels with the story and I think the primary issues with it are just a byproduct of being over 10 years old at this point.

[haunted-xander]

What was the og P3 like? I’ve only played P4G, P5, and P5R so idk

I'm not very good at explaining those kinda things so I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask ^_^' I'll try my best!

The artstyle of og P3 is pretty different from P4G & P5/P5R, since it's a lot more muted and desaturated compered to the others' very bright color palettes lol. Story wise it's pretty depressing and bittersweet. The pacing and story structure is also very different from P4G & P5/P5R, but otherwise has a lot of the things you'd expect from a Persona game. Oh and gameplay-wise it's pretty similar to P4G.

I hope that explaination helps!

[risette-blast]

PERSONA 2 INNOCENT SIN SPOILERS AHEAD! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE REMOTELY INTERESTED IN PLAYING THE GAME AND HAVEN'T BEEN SPOILED ON IT!!

(oh there are also traitor spoilers for P5 in here, but I feel like anyone who has played P2 has also played P5 already lol)

so last night, I finished P2IS. the ending still hurts by the way lol. but i've had a bit of time since then to think about the game in retrospect. so i wrote up a thought dump with sort of my "initial" thoughts on the game on twitter. afterwards, i decided to repost it here but with more detail since i'm not constrained with a character limit the same way I am with twitter (it's still gonna be in bullet points bc I don't really want to structure this like an essay haha)

this game's ending really was brutal. this is the main thing I've commented on ever since finishing the game, but it truly is awful. Maya is stabbed and killed, Lisa can't even heal her with Dia no matter how much she tries. the Earth is destroyed by suddenly stopping its rotation, causing the resultant inertia to instantly kill everything. in the end, it just turns out to be a rigged game between Philemon and Nyarlathotep (god that name is hard to spell lol). and then the entire cast is forced to go back in time and forget their memories with each other and everything to prevent the world from ending again. it's truly a cruel fate for them, I really did want them to have a happy ending so it just really hurts. 😭

a lot of this game's moments hit hard due to how good the OST is. this has honestly gone up to being one of my favorite Persona OSTs, and given how strong its competition has been, that's a noteworthy feat.

the gameplay was ass lol. I can't pretend it was good, it's worse than P1 in some areas which is wild (still liked IS more overall though, 1 has some very questionable mechanics)

now apparently this is specific to the PSP version, but man the menus were so slow. thankfully I was playing on an emulator so I even had this option but I genuinely just sped up the game somewhat frequently just to get through the menus more quickly

it was also probably the easiest Persona game I've ever played. P5R is genuinely harder. i'm not even kidding. I've gone on and on about how easy P5R is (on twitter), but P2IS makes P5R look challenging in comparison.

the characters were great. i didn't think I'd care about them as much as I did. they all had wonderful bonds with each other. personally I felt like yukino was the "weak" link, and like she doesn't have the bonds the other do so it only makes sense. and even then? she has some great moments and is genuinely well written too. I had played P1 before this but yukino wasn't in my party so she essentially disappeared; it's nice to actually get to know her.

that said, I don't rly like how P1 and P2 both kinda hide extra character details behind very optional dialogue that's easy to miss. it's not nearly as bad in IS though bc they get more characterization in the main story, so a lot of the characters in IS resonated with me more on a first playthrough than 1's characters did.

I've heard some people say P2's shadow encounters are better than P4's. I'm not sure I agree with that at least just from IS, but I thought they were pretty competent. I did like that they built up to the shadow encounters throughout the game, it's an interesting approach.

...personally I still like the P4 shadow encounters more overall. I just also really like the way the IS shadow encounters were handled too especially in the context of the story.

the dialogue about personas and masks was really cool. I wish the new Persona games did acknowledge that everyone has multiple masks they put on. the only characters from P3-P5 who really explore this imo (as far as I can remember) are Rise and Akechi, and even then, it's not nearly as substantial as 1/2. Rise's arc is more about her accepting that she can have multiple selves that are all her, and with Akechi, while he has two different masks that represent both the facade he presents to society vs his true nature, it's just a case of facade vs true nature, whereas IS acknowledges that everyone has multiple masks they present to society that form a full self.

I personally wasn't too invested in the romance options, and the game clearly didn't consider them super important either seeing as they barely affect the story or interactions, but I really did like that Jun was presented as a genuine, serious option. also it's not like P3-5 where it's kinda subjective, I feel like Jun just fits the best especially in retrospect.

I now truly understand why newsona's mechanics (calendar, s.links, etc) wouldn't work at all. there's no room in the story for that.

I didn't think the pacing was the best tbh. it feels like not a lot happens at first, then they throw a ton of story at you halfway through the game, then a lot more near the end. it could've been distributed a little better. I hear EP is better with this though.

I do have a few issues with the way the plot was presented. tbh it was just a little absurd lol, and also revealing that the whole story was Philemon vs Nyarlathotep (again, tough name to spell lol) at the very end was kinda mid. maybe I'll like it more with the context of EP. but what really made the story for me was ultimately the characters and their development, not so much the actual events in the plot itself, if that makes sense.

I love the ending theme, kimi no tonari. when you realize that the sumaru city (and a lot of songs in the game) share the same general leitmotif it just makes you sad to hear them in retrospect 😔

[rationalisms]

Can you play Like a Dragon without knowing stuff about the rest of the Yakuza games? Your p5 comparison post made me curious

yeah!! i've never played any of the other games, i only happened to play this one because my flatmate has a psn subscription and it was one of the free games at some point lmao.

there's apparently some returning characters but more in a "oh look it's that guy, neat" way than anything plot relevant and the story is completely self-contained

i recommend it! it's great fun, and a really great example of an actually good open world game filled with actual shit to do. like, full on entire optional games within it like a management simulator and a mariokart spin-off lol.

two warnings though: the beginning is basically a cut scene simulators lmao. like, genuinely multiple hours of mostly cut scenes with very little gameplay... the story is interesting and the characters are fun, and as a persona fan i'm more immune to this phenomenon than most lol but even i was like "hey do i get to play the game at some point?" if you stick with it, it really opens up though.

aaand... it's really guilty of "for a dollar, name a woman". there is a female party member but you don't get her until way into the game and it's a total sausagefest before that. also very guilty of like. men get to have varied interesting faces and designs and women are all sameface generic pretty and feminine. i do really like the two major female characters in it but yeah... something to keep in mind

i'd still recommend it despite those drawbacks because it's so fun and goofy and legitimately some of the most i've genuinely laughed at a video game in ages. as well as the aforementioned reasons in the p5 comparison post :^)

[petorahs]

☀️ its fascinating that you say P3 has shaped your worldview because... Well not to trauma dump here but back then when I discovered the game (it was back then when p4 was already out) i was... In a REALLY bad place and wondering about unaliving myself. I wont go into much detail but kids are trash man and teens are even worse. and then this game came around. With an aesthetic I really liked. i am not a native english speaker so it was hard for me at first but somehow this game just... /spoke to me/. A game about life and death and what it means to be alive and what it means to have a REASON to live, somehow... Convinced me to go a bit longer. I mean it when I say this: Persona 3 saved my life. And no other game can ever come close to such an experience. (Even tho from a quality standpoint P5 certainly is up there)

oh dude that is so valid thank you for sharing this. seriously though, im happy that youre here! and im sure many others are too! the ☀️ brightening lives and all that :]

yea i can see why p3 just clicked with so many people since it first came out. i was always curious on why it's so beloved by fans, when p5 and even p4 are literally right there with their overall better gameplay experiences. p5 literally got the franchise mainstream to insane heights lol. im... so glad i got into persona the way i did. of course, everyone's experiences w these games are different and special to them in their own way.

i got into persona 3 as an adult and as a result the lens in which i viewed the story's themes were heightened, in a way. as a teen i just know i would have reacted more volatilely i struggle to think about it LOL but both experiences would still be pretty intense. it's just that, as an adult there's more room to digest it when im not troubled by algebra hw. i was just more equipped for it (also i played omori two summers ago LMAOO). ofc i only turned 20 a few weeks ago LOL but i get why p3 means so much to people.

because it's like... 2000s nostalgia coupled with a game that figuratively holds your hand through the uncertainty of death yknow? p3 is a friend, basically. its entire thesis is based upon companionship (exactly what i highlight in an analysis i have drafted somewhere but HHH i dont want this to get too long lmao)

in the shaping my worldviews thing... its really more like it cemented my 'philosophies' :] like i said, equipped with the stuff i learned before, p3 having the message that it did just... hit super close to home! like yeah! that's what i've been saying dude!! kindness really is enough!!

"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life... Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of."

LIKE YEA GIRL THATS EXACTLY IT!! its so cool! i actually admire people who grew up with p3 because man if i heard this line ages ago... well, again, idk if i would be able to grasp it fully at the time... but still! this is so good, poetry in motion. and like u said its aesthetics are gorgeous and aim to capture the essence of its themes - and it did.

im a p5 baby like bro i love p5. soft spot for it. thats the closest persona game i "grew up" with and it came at such an opportune time for me, being a teen stuck between a rock and a hard place. typical. and p5 validated my teenage angst bs so much. its so refreshing to see a game's theme being rebellion. that was me i thought. those characters are going through something that similarly happened to me. teenage rebellion is such a fun thing to explore!

so p5 validated my struggles while p3 did something deeper than that, somehow. i think it just made me .. stronger? like it made me move on from struggles. "by remembering death you learn how to live" so... i guess p3 taught me how to live as crazy as that sounds. but you get me

persona 5 overall is great -- everyone agrees, like its objectively just a better game. but persona 3 ends up more beloved because of its subjective value as a piece of art. there's a lot of heart and soul to put into it.

it's more simple when compared to p5 at first glance, but simple doesn't mean less. which is why more people experiencing it will be nice to see

[nebulaleaf]

goodbye persona 5 royal. after 121 hours (140 on my switch profile) i got 69% of thieves den achievements, 99% in the compendium, and took 910 switch screenshots (third sem having a recording block really cucked me fr.) I think I did as much as i possibly could. despite my gripes this was my most fulfilling playthrough i've ever done of P5. i have a lot of bad things to say about royal but i really did have so much fun with it. getting excited over the new moves with the grappling hook (guessing where the cutscene would be and having fun being technical with chains de hook), making more strategic personas with fusion alarms, using all that extra time p5r gives as efficiently as possible. I loved maruki's confidant even if it ended in a kind of mediocre palace. he's just a fun guy who's so naturally inserted into the story it feels like he Should've always been there (except for the end). though its a shame because of how his confidant is structured in terms of topics, you cant easily insert it into p5 (its basically just a huge foreshadowing/ general set-up for the themes of 3rd sem). akechi's though... akechi's confidant and the addition of kichioji was WONDERFUL and i'd have killed for it in vanilla. im so glad for it. its such a fun place to explore and i love all the new npcs; penguin sniper was fun to play (though i hate playing with akechi, esp because its useless to) and jazzjin's gameplay elements were REAL FUN TO MAKE BUSTED ASS TEAMMATES WITH. no more what-ifs is also... a good song. i think i might even add it to my personal faves playlist. i'll have to sit down and listen to the ost when i don't have a headache. anyway there's probably a lot more good things i can say, but my head is kind of muddled rn lol. that post-game feeling fr.

ahh, but even when it comes down to the bad, like kasumi-- groaning every time she came on screen was fun in its own way too; whether it was laughing at the hilarity of it or coming to tumblr and grumbling about it with whoever was following along with my posts that day. honestly i just wish they tried a little harder with her and we got to know *sumire* instead of kasumi a little more. reading the interview where the devs admitted to her just being a marketing ploy and how they treated her as such really is crushing. its kind of a reflection of royal as a whole in a way to me. care *was* put in; i can see the heart behind a lot of this, but it's more focused on being flashy and appealing to those who missed the first wave of p5dom; or trying to draw back in those who have already played. which... is the point of a video game definitive edition, but kind of ironic when presented against the morals p5 seems to stand for. (or tries to, anyway. corporate meddling and cultural norms... this is still a video game that needs to sell.) i know i shouldn't treat silly anime game #685 that lets you date a maid-teacher as an 'art form' but i always felt p5 had a pretty solid and profound message. so to see royal trample p5 vanilla and then dance around wearing its skin is... certainly something. i know they're technically the same game, so royal has those messages too, but they get all tied up in the new stuff that royal brings forth (and doesn't deliver on. lmao. lol) on top of the already shaky at times writing p5 came with. i guess what im just trying to say is that royal's content is good... but it's being too much. and that just makes me really, really sad. despite all that, royal still kind of rekindled my love for p5 that was already present. every new playthrough for me lets me look deeper into what i like or neat details i missed; seriously i always find something new when i come back to this game. but this was especially true in royal. i found myself noticing when the tiniest detail was changed and it was always fun to compare them, even if it devolved into a tangent. i really only am disappointed like this just because I love persona 5 as a whole *so much*. its everything to me, so i want it to be the best it can be, yknow? anyway, thanks persona 5 royal. you've been a journey in multiple ways. try as i might, i won't forget you.

[blueberry-lemon]

Persona 5 Tactica non-spoiler First Impressions

I'm honestly pretty burned out on Persona, specifically the P5 cast, at this point, BUT...I figured I'd give them one last rodeo with Tactica. Especially bc I like seeing different takes on tactics RPG gameplay.

I'm liking it so far! Its closest parallel game is definitely Mario+Rabbids, but I think I prefer this game more than that series.

If you're wondering if you can play this game without playing Persona 5, I would say yeah probably. Maybe read like a 1-sentence synopsis of who the Phantom Thieves are so you know who the cast is?

Non-spoilers impressions below:

Love the art style. Love the dialogue portraits and the 3D cutscenes, which I honestly like more than their counterparts in actual Persona 5. I was unsure of the character designs when Tactica was first teased, but I grew to love them. Everyone's really expressive.

New character, Erina, is great. Love her.

Fun tactics gameplay. Definitely leans slightly in the direction of "puzzley tactics" rather than "all-out brawl" tactics if that makes sense. What I mean is that like, battles can take a hard swing for the good or the bad depending on whether you made a huge mistake. I did one side quest that definitely felt like a "puzzle", in that there was a specific way to beat in the required amount of turns. The main story missions are a nice blend so far. I guess I would call Final Fantasy Tactics an "all-out brawl" tactics game.

If you play this game, definitely make sure you digest the main mechanic of the game: knock an opponent away from cover, then hit them when they're out in the open. That gives you an extra turn. This is absolutely crucial to surviving.

But on that note...the game generously offers, like, 5 different difficulty choices!

Character customization is nice and streamlined. I don't think the game cares at all if you're a nerd about Persona fusion, you can kind of just go with the flow. Your choices are a combination of equipping Personas and also leveling up a character skill tree.

I honestly like how the Personas themselves are handled in this more than in Persona 5. Each character has their signature Persona at all times, PLUS equips one of your homemade fused Personas. So Joker can have Arsene + Jack Frost, for example. To account for this, I think each Persona only has 2 Skills each.

Each party member has their own, like, "Ultimate" ability and Passive ability that's unique to them, so that's nice.

No hub world to run around in, which for me is a HUGE plus. Just a pleasant hub menu with things to do in between battles.

The game does a GREAT job of slowly unraveling the mechanics so that it doesn't overwhelm you all at once in the beginning

The story is whatever so far, if I'm being honest. But it's inoffensive and you can easily skip a few cutscenes without missing any crucial information.

I don't think the game is gonna blow any Persona fan or tactics fan's mind, but I think it's successful so far. It feels like an alternate choice to Mario+Rabbids, with a slightly different take on how to make a similar game.

Good job Atlus!

[gearstationsubwaybossingo]

((Ehhhh. I’d say it’s a mixed bag, really?

P3: Favorite Anime. I haven’t played the game for myself yet but I adore the manga, and the anime (which is actually just four movies) is very pretty and does a great job with characters’ interactions. About the same vibe as the P5 Daybreakers OVA.

P4: Favorite Manga. I’m biased. I read the manga first and I love the artist’s work dearly, so it’s is my preferred version of P4. 10/10 best characterizations. Adore the game’s story, but it has some issues that the manga actually does a good job of trying to fix, while the anime plays them up half the time. There’re some really great scenes in the anime, but it’s a little hard to get through because they wrote the MC as a total Chad. 😖 look how they massacred my boy

P5: Favorite Game. Love the gameplay and the soundtrack. Had a lot of fun with the anime, too, but I like how they handle Ann’s story arc in the manga better. Mostly because I also really like how much depth it goes into with the characters as a whole. (Same mangaka as 4.) Anime Joker is the closest of the group to his manga counterpart - so. Still a massive nerd. 😆))

((Yeah I'm definitely going to have to check these games out. I was contemplating streaming games again some time in the future. Maybe I'll add P3 portable and P4 golden to the line up.

The other choices were going to be Hollow Knight, Ark, Coffee Talk episodes 1 and 2, and Cult of the Lamb.))

[lord-radish]

I think there are three important criteria when it comes to judging a modern Persona game: Social Links, Dungeon Crawling and the Stupid Guy Best Friend.

Please note that this is more an indicator of personal taste than me trying to objectively quantify any of these categories.

Social Links: 5 > 3 > 4.

god I just looked up the Persona 5 social links for the first time in forever and I love all of them. I was seriously gonna consider ranking 3's social links highest, but Persona 5 really does have it all. Even with the reputation Ohya has, I LOVE her big orange bubble sunglasses. Weakest link is Mishima.

The third game has the worst social link out of them all, but it also has - imo - the best one too. The Moon arcana, with the gormand who steals your money and tries to get you into a cult, sucks. The Sun arcana, where you spend your Sundays with a terminally ill man? Absolute fuckin tearjerker. You also have the elderly bookstore couple and Mutatsu the Monk on top of that. Maya is an iconic social link, and I like Keisuke too.

Persona 4 has some good social links, like Dojima, Nanako and Naoto. But it also has Ayane, and even the characters I liked spending time with had social links that felt meandering. Rise had a good social link, Yukiko's ended up feeling like a rut. Since this is my first playthrough, I didn't even start a couple of the social links - that's my bad. There's also the fact that I'm 27, and I played P3 as a teenager and P5 in my mid-20's; I might be growing out of this sort of cliche-laden Anime stuff. But so far, I honestly think 4's social links are my least favourite. Except for the Fox, I like the Fox.

Dungeon Crawling: 3 > 4 > 5

For the record, Persona 5's dungeons were fan-fucking-tastic. They look and feel incredible, they're incredibly well made. But they're also static areas and I prefer the procedurally generated areas of 3 and 4. There's Mementos, but driving around in the Monawagon got really old after a while. Excellent levels and gameplay, but the PS2 jank is really fun.

Persona 4 had some good maps. I adored the RPG one, I really like the sci-fi one, the Golden-exclusive map was great and there's a great endgame map too. But the maps all cap out at about ten floors. I felt like I was playing the Bathhouse map for way too long, and eventually it boils down to a noticeable formula.

I really like Persona 3's unconventional dungeon structure. Climbing an evergrowing tower with over a hundred floors? That rips. Unlocking new floors with bosses is kind of an oddball, but I like it and it's explained in the game. It's blocky, it's randomly generated, and it's really fun. I love when a simple concept is done well, and that's Persona 3's dungeon crawling to me. The spectacle of 5 is incredible, but sometimes it's the little things that affect you the most.

Stupid Guy Best Friend: 5 > 3 >>>>>> 4

Ryuji is a real bro. He's dumb, but you could do a blood pact with him and probably feel secure that he's gonna pull through for you. Undoubtedly the best Stupid Guy Best Friend in the Persona series.

Junpei is kind of a flake, but I thought he had a pretty good story going for a while there near the end. Junpei probably ends up being the most "human" Stupid Guy Best Friend? The dumb pervy anime stuff begins with him, but he actually ended up having an intensive emotional story.

Yosuke Homophobic Moments Pt. 7.

Yosuke spends most of the game being inappropriate with women and making homophobic comments to Kanji for his perceived sexuality. For some reason, TV Tropes editors are much more heated about Chie for how she treats him, i.e. getting mad at him for breaking a DVD and spending a bunch of his money on a gift for someone else - but this is the guy who signed her up to a beauty pageant against her will and then lost his shit when she retaliated, and basically cornered her into wearing a bikini and guilted her until she gave in. Yosuke fucking sucks - trash character 0/10. I do not like Yosuke.

And I know there were plans to make him a gay dating option that got cut late into development - to the point that there was English dialogue recorded for it. Could it have saved the character and retroactively explained a lot of his toxic traits as overcompensating for his sexuality? Maybe, with a lot of side-eye to match. But that got left on the cutting room floor, and the overly perverted and outwardly prejudiced Yosuke we got in the game is what we got. I really, really dislike Yosuke.

[pl0xm4st3r]

More thoughts on Persona 3 Reload below. This is gonna be a long one.

I'm gonna start with the gameplay because everything I know about game design comes from watching videos. So I am a dilettante at best, and my opinions pretty much come down to "did it feel good to play?" And God, did this game feel good to play. I've seen some criticisms about the shift mechanic and how it trivializes difficulty, and the capacity for very high damage even on the highest difficulty. I played on normal, so I can't speak on that, but this comes down my fundamental philosophy on difficulty in games. To grossly oversimplify, games rely on mechanics and story to keep players engaged. Difficulty falls under mechanics here, and great games will use both to give players a good time. But you can sacrifice one if you make up for another. Some visual novels and almost no gameplay, and almost no one is playing Mario for the story, to give two extremes. As such, I think Persona 3 is more than engaging enough on a story and characterization front to make up for a rather easy time.

I think the boss fights are where the combat suffers, because I don't feel any inclination to use interesting strategies. It's just buff, debuff, and attack. The one time I used an interesting strategy was after I died to the Hermit, and decided to switch up my team, bringing Shinji, Ken, and Aigis. I kept Aigis' weakness safe with Makarakarn, buffed with her and MC, and then just let loose. Every time I tried using a status, it would be blocked (which also made Mitsuru feel limited in her usefulness, since that's her Theurgy characteristic), so I just stopped trying. I find it weird that resistances to status effects aren't included in Fuuka's scans. Also, the Monad Corridors provide opportunities for interesting strategies, but unless you want to die once to scout or consult a guide, it's really unlikely that such strategies will work. All that said though, I think the combat and gameplay was engaging enough. It just relied on being a power-fantasy often, between chaining 1-Mores and Theurgy skills. And even then, I did have tense moments while traversing Tartarus, so it's not like difficulty was completely absent.

All in all, though, the game was immensely fun, and holy crap, everything felt so satisfying to navigate. Menuing was instant and load times were practically non-existent. I can attribute some of that to playing on PC (mine has decent hardware), but even older games aren't as instantly responsive as this one was. This leads me into design. Every aspect of this games design is gorgeous and cool as hell to me. I've seen a lot of praise for it already, and with Metaphor on the way from Atlus, it seems they've picked up after P5 that people love stylish menus and want to continue that. That said, I do have incredibly slight reservations about it, precisely because P5 did it first. Everything being off-kilter fits with the game being about rebels, and P3 doesn't share that identity. However, asymmetric design doesn't have to be restricted to only being a thematic reinforcement; it can also just look cool because. I actually think P3R does a good job of retaining the look of OG P3. It had pretty standard, inoffensive menus, and it's primary way of making it look cool was through the color palette. P3R manages to retain the streamlined blockiness of the original while introducing asymmetric elements in a nice balance. For instance, compare how the date looks in Persona 5 as compared to P3R. I won't harp on it too much longer, because I could pick a ton of details to focus on (I will bring up the Theurgy menu though. So cool). The game is also just overall gorgeous. The models, sprites, animations, effects, everything is great. It's notably more saturated than the original, which I thought was an interesting decision, but ultimately it doesn't affect me either way. I think it suits the overall art direction, but had it been different then a desaturated palette would've worked fine.

The voice acting is great and I think suits each of the characters very well. Since I played a bit of P3P, it took some getting used to Yukari and Junpei's voices (since I was used to Michelle Ruff and Vic Mignogna). I've gone back and listened to some of the original dialogue and I frankly think some of the voice acting from back then was bad. Fuuka and Aigis especially sound very awkward. That was intentional for Aigis, but even then, it sounded to me like someone doing a robot voice poorly, and I can't quite place what's off about it to me. In any case, I think her new voice is a marked improvement, and I like that she still manages to make her sound like a robot because, while she has no problem with inflection anymore, she always speaks quietly and extremely evenly. It's the evenness of her speech that gives the robot vibe this time around, I feel. Also, Ken actually sounds like a kid, which I appreciate. As someone who wasn't really familiar with the original cast, I think they nailed the casting this time, no character's voice felt off.

Speaking of the cast, though, I love the characters so much, every one of them, in the main cast, at least. I enjoyed a great deal of the social links as well. Ignoring the ones with party members for now, I think my favorites were the ones with Maiko, Hayase, and Akinari. Although I'm looking over the list now to refresh my memory, and it's really hard to pick favorites on this. Akinari's is peak, of course. I think I went into it with too high of expectations, because my friend told me if I did any, I had to do his and that it's the best in the game. Ignoring those with party members, I agree that it's the best, but my expectations were placed too high. In any case, it's an incredibly touching story with an excellent message. I didn't end up doing Yuko's, Hiraga's, or Bebe's all the way through, but I almost finished Yuko's and got a few ranks in to the others. As for the main cast, I could be here forever if I got into every character. This post has gotten long enough as is so I think I'll make a separate one giving my thoughts on each member of SEES, Strega, and Ryoji. I think I'll also discuss the plot and themes in that post as well, or I might separate it again.

[hectorlykos]

Masterpiece, re-experienced. — A Persona 3 Reload Review

Persona 3 Reload - 9.5/10 Hours Played - 127 hours (one run) Completion - 100% Platinum trophy Out of all the remasters/ports that Persona has received, this is the first time they made an actual remake and it was absolutely amazing. This really shows how much the Persona team has improved over the years in terms of understanding graphics, art style, game design and combat. Almost every single aspect of this remake is better than the original, adding lots of quality of life mechanics that made it significantly more fun while also being faithful to the source material. This remake is a testament of how Persona grew as a series over the years from a niche JRPG to being out in the spotlight as a bonafide AAA game. The original game already had a phenomenal story that will forever resonate with its audience, but P3R took that and further improved it to still tug the hearts of people who played the game multiple times now. Making all the social links fully voiced definitely made all of them more memorable and entertaining even those that were pretty bad like Kenji's. P3 has some of the best but also some of the worst social links in the series, which is one of its biggest critiques. I also appreciate the new addition of night time bonding with party members as it made the dorm feel more lively compared to the original. It also made the cast feel a lot more closer as friends, because it only felt like the original cast were only people working at the same goal instead of being genuine friends. It's not on the level as the friend group in P4, but this is def more than P5 which I appreciate. The new linked episodes of the male cast who disappointingly still do not have a social link were good enough to excuse its absence.

While most of the soundtrack stays the same, the new songs and covers were great. The new battle theme (It's Going Down Now) is probably my second favorite in the series. Color Your Night is an absolute bop and the new dorm music was great. In terms of graphics and art style, the original and remake are like night and day. There are more attention to detail and more expression in the environment throughout Tartarus and the city which made it feel more alive and vibrant. Some people tend to point out that the new vibrant look of P3R does not match the themes of the original's dark and gloomy, but I honestly think this new change is better. For a game that discusses the nature of life and death, making the game begin with a more colorful and cheerful city that is contrasted by the depressing and scary tones of Tartarus masterfully shows the contrast between both concepts. Additionally, as the story goes on, the city also becomes more dark and depressing similar to Tartarus which helps signifies the turmoil that is going to come to the world. It makes it feel not like a transition, but a convergence of light into dark. With this, not only does the change feel more intense, but it also matches up with the current situation of the game which is just amazing environmental storytelling.

Aside from that, the new QOL changes in the simulation gameplay and combat gameplay made the game more enjoyable. It is now way easier to upgrade social stats and social links with the new arcana cards you receive in Tartarus, night bonding and using the dorm computer. It actually made it more possible to complete all the social links in the game in one playthrough, which I did without any guides. In the combat side, the new changes were just amazing. Adding huge mechanics such as Shift (called Baton Pass in P5) made all the battles feel more smooth, plus the new Theurgy mechanic (which I hope will be also in future Persona games) added a unique special move for each character that helped them have more difference in their ability as a party member. Changing between different members was fun as the remake engages players to have different compositions depending on conditions.

However, the most important and easily the best change in the game is Tartarus. In the original, it was one of the most tedious and most excruciating experiences of all time. While great as a concept that matches the themes and storytelling, it's "fun" aspect was just not there. It was just an near endless grind climbing through up the floors that are almost identical to each other without any variety or additional mechanics and structures that could have made the struggle bearable. Thankfully, all of this was improved by the remake by not only making the floors better to look at, but also adding more variety into it with the Great Clock and Monad Doors which helps with both leveling up and gaining more resources that would make your team better. Not only that, the new dash and ambush mechanic made the pace of Tartarus way faster as it helps with faster advantages instead of just stalling and waiting for enemies to turn their backs. Back then, I used to just hate Tartarus and say to myself "GET ME OUTTA HERE" while now I just say "YOU CAN'T GET ME OUT OF HERE". It's a miracle what the folks at ATLUS has done, props to the team.

I can't express enough how much I love this game. While P3 is still my least favorite out of the modern Persona games, it doesn't mean that it is not a masterpiece itself. As a game who made me cry the most in any piece of media ever, experiencing the game in a more modern way was special to me. The fact that this game, which I hold dear and close to my heart, is what I think is the least good modern Persona game, just signifies how amazing this series truly is. Please play it. It is peak fiction. It is fire. It is kino. It is raw. It is goated. It is a masterpiece.

[oakdll]

my favorite palaces in persona 5 royal ranked !! (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5 ROYAL)

1 - Maruki’s Palace

This is easily the best in the game, Maruki is such a wonderful character and he works fantastically as an antagonist. The palace uses its time to let you in to Maruki’s mindset, showing you cassette tapes of his key memories and forcing you to answer questions the way he would. You really understand his psyche by the end, and his boss fight might be my favorite in the game. The first phase is surprisingly difficult, even when I was using Izanagi No Okami Picaro, and the story in the next phases are phenomenal. Maruki’s defeat and the cutscene of him grabbing the snowflakes as they fall is gorgeous, and having the palace end with Maruki and Joker having a flat out fistfight is a stroke of genius. there’s so much emotion with Maruki, and he has so much depth as an antagonist, he honestly puts other palace rulers to shame. It’s perfect. Also the checkmate cutscene is amazing.

2 - Futaba’s Palace

Futaba’s palace is tied with number three for me, as someone who has dealt with literally the exact same things Futaba has (loss and agoraphobia) this palace is so interesting. The fragile state of her mind, the puzzles of her memories of her mother, and the aesthetics of the pyramid are so well done. The only things I don’t like is how Wakaba’s death was treated. It actually is a good decision story wise on a larger scale, but in terms of the emotional core of the palace, having her be murdered in a government plot feels much less personal. It definitely is a good decision for Shido’s arc, but it ruins some of the relatability and emotional resonance in Futaba’s palace.

3 - Sae’s Palace

This is tied with Futaba’s palace for me. I’m including the whole aftermath of Sae’s palace in this ranking, and everything with Akechi’s betrayal was done perfectly. The gameplay of this palace is phenomenal, and the aesthetics are INSANE. Whims of Fate singlehandedly brings this palace up a spot on the list. The casino visuals are gorgeous, and this palace being the one from the beginning sequence is ingenious. This palace is the culmination of everything P5 was building up to, even more than Shido’s and the Depths of Mementos in my opinion. Seeing everything come together was phenomenal to see. The only issue I had was how the Phantom Thieves were able to plan the whole fakeout death with Akechi so perfectly. I don’t mind the complexity like a lot of people do, I just feel like there’s no way this group of high schoolers would be able to plan something as elaborate as this. Still, phenomenal palace.

4 - Kamoshida’s Palace

This one is just a phenomenal opening palace for the game. Kamoshida is probably the single most hate-able villains in the series, and they did a great job establishing that. The library puzzles were actually a lot of fun for me, and the gameplay was much more challenging because of how early in the game it was. I was really only playing P5 for the story, so I was just using Izanagi no Okami Picaro the whole time, but in hindsight, the palaces before you could just buy Izanagi were definitely more interesting gameplay wise. Phenomenal opener for the game, and it sets the stage so well.

5 - Shido’s Palace

The penultimate palace in the base game, and the primary villain throughout the series. Shido’s palace was a lot of fun for me, Akechi’s betrayal is a great story element added to the palace, and the idea of having to beat all the 5 bosses before you can progress is super cool. I don’t get the hate for the rat puzzles, they definitely drag on too long, but they weren’t a bad concept from the start. It was pretty fun doing the rat puzzles the first few times, I just think they were too long and there were too many of them.

6 - Madarame’s Palace

I might be in the minority for enjoying this palace as much as I do. I really like Yusuke and his arc, and the gameplay behind this palace helps that even more. The laser puzzles and paintings of Madarame’s pupils added a lot for me. I honestly really enjoyed Madarame as a villain, the story and gameplay behind this palace was great and the only thing I don’t like is the puzzles inside the paintings. I also didn’t mind the Sayuri puzzles either, they weren’t super difficult and it makes a lot of sense for Madarame.

7 - Depths of Mementos

I really wish this palace was longer, but I get why it isn’t. Qliphoth was honestly kind of boring, it was just a bunch of enemies with no challenge, especially at this stage in the game. I could 1 or 2 shot every single mini boss, mostly because I had Myriad Truths, but even with more balanced attacks these fights were too easy. The final boss fight and Sheriruth carry this palace for me. I did enjoy the light floor puzzles and the concept of the palace, although the light floor puzzles were too confusing at times. There were some puzzles that were physically impossible to do until I did something else and sometimes the game just never told me, I had to look it up and realize I missed a button. The Yaldabaoth fight was a lot of fun, and the ending with fighting god with satan was definitely corny, but it was thematically resonant and entertaining, so it gets a pass. A great finish to the base game.

8 - Kaneshiro’s Palace

I didn’t love this one as much as some other people. I understand this is Makoto’s arc, but she wasn’t super involved with Kaneshiro really, she only got involved to help the Phantom Thieves with their change of heart. As a result, Kaneshiro feels kind of removed from all the main characters unlike every other palace in the game. I ended up paying 20,000 yen to open a door and I still don’t know if that was mandatory or just an optional solution to the puzzle, but I had the money to spare so it doesn’t matter much. I thought the gameplay was a lot of fun until the final massive lock puzzle. Having to use all those codes to unlock it was super boring, I just looked up the answers and I thought it was way too dragged out. Everything else was great though, and the reveal of him viewing all of Shibuya as his bank was super interesting. It really did feel like the Phantom Thieves taking on a larger force than before.

9 - Okumura’s Palace

Yeah, Okumura’s palace still is the worst in the game. The whole arc of Morgana leaving is still the worst part of the game, and this palace being Morgana’s arc instead of Haru’s really takes away from her as a character. The gameplay is pretty boring compared to the other palaces, the airlock puzzles aren’t super fun, and the story isn’t as interesting as every other arc. This is not an unpopular opinion, but I still think this is the worst palace. I also think the airlock puzzles are as bad as people say. I got stuck on the last room for a literal hour because every time I messed up I had to spend like 10 minutes getting back to the start so I could reset. The solution isn’t even that hard, you just have to spend so much time resetting in order to finish it. Still, Okumura’s palace is by no means bad, and I still think it’s underrated. No part of it is super great, but I still don’t think any of it is outright bad, just worse than the rest of the game.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

So after p3r would you say you're more or less excited for metaphor and/or P6?

More. Something new and fresh is always good.

P3R has the issues of competing with FES and P. Same with P4 vs P4G. I don't really care about P5 to P5R (except I do appreciate a lot of QoL that P5R has.....not all but a lot! thank you for letting me dash outside the dungeons!) P6 and Refan doesn't have any like.....competition.....like that.

I'm "eh" on P5's gameplay, but I don't think I've raked it over the coals that much in that regard. (or if I did the issues I had were easily drowned out by character/plot/story/lore issues that I've been more vocal about). Wait I think I've been pretty vocal about the palaces in one aspect....other than that I think the only issues I have are "Mementos is a worst tartarus" (at least for me), and "some new abilities are a bit too op/need to be reworked" (love baton pass, but it gets a biiiiiit OP, so far it seems like Shift doesn't do that).

I guess the only thing I hope P6/Refan don't have that P5 has (and watch this happen), is that it's not.....NG+ friendly. Like Palaces fucking SUCK to speedrun through. TT0TT P5R has SOME shortcuts but I don't think it's a lot (I need to do more rerun throughs tbh).

So I guess if they have anything like that, don't make it ass for NG+/"speedrunning"

In P3R's case....please don't do twilight fragments. I might die. TT0TT

[retphienix]

I think we're done? I mean, I've got dialogue to go through and some more posts including what will be my finale post and what not, but I think this marks the end of gameplay, and I'm pretty stoked to say that because this game's been sick :)

Anyways~

(I got so hyped at the music entering the palace again, but the game's done that to me so many times at this point lol)

Maruki's fights really did range from "This rules!" to "Hm. Kinda pointless." to "Yes, I'm very much aware of Metal Gear Solid, thanks for the two worthless fighters swinging on each other scene"

The first phase with the rejuvenating support arms felt great!

It had a nice balance of challenge even for this level 99 crew all while being a fight I could SUPER improve on if I had known it was structured like this from the start (be that team adjustments, items, or long form jazz club training in prep for this).

Honestly just a boss fight I thoroughly enjoyed.

Although.

I did not like the music during it.

It wasn't somehow garbage, and the slower segments had a tinge of nostalgia appropriate for fighting a foe we admire, it's just that P5 has had tracks that FUCKING SLAP and inject hype directly into my veins, as well as tracks that hit deep, and this failed to be either.

Kinda disappointing.

Segment 2 adding lyrics was a vast improvement, but the fight ended up being a let down since it's either an interactive cutscene, or it really was just a dps race with low thresholds, either way it just kinda ended.

And sadly.... this pattern continued, as the giant Adam Kadmon fight got me excited for another difficult multi phase encounter... only to be "survive like 3 cycles, you win". That sucked. Having 2 sections of this ongoing fight be fake made me sad.

And then you do the MGS slap fight which gets a pass because it, just like in MGS funnily enough, does well to include appropriate narrative ties to the fight seeing as throughout the game the PT have been offering a form of therapy to individuals to help them through their troubles, and in this fight you and Maruki quite literally form up under this guise and then he lets loose with his doubts and fears as you do a good old "Burn through every ounce of energy you have" bout.

That was alright, I wish the other 2 segments were as good as the first though.

All said, and not to drag on it, Kadmon let me down compared to what I was looking for. When the base game's end included killing a god with a kaiju size persona blowing a hole clean through them- this offered much less. I did get hyped at my friends blocking the blow, and at Joker landing the final shot on Kadmon, but considering this is the followup to a GOD it felt off, like it should have been content done before rather than after that.

Ah well, I'm being a stickler despite having thoroughly enjoyed what I got here.

~Appending some events that happen after due to technical difficulties~

With that we have returned reality to how it ought to be.

Akechi is dead, his sacrifice regaining it's meaning.

Our friends have returned to their lives as they were instead of their idealized versions.

Following this we had a few interesting moments:

Akechi, Joker, and Morgana were missing once they returned- obviously Akechi is dead, Joker- we quickly find out- is in juvie as Akechi wasn't there to take the fall. And Morgana made my eyebrow rise because I was struggling to recall if he reappeared before or after Maruki's influence- but don't get hung up on that- he's fine.

They do the same bit with him walking through the cafe door and everyone makes a sly comment about it being a repeat.

We get a short montage of all our confidants working towards getting us out of jail- it was genuinely super sweet and left me feeling touched- though I did spend the entire montage going "Oh no, literally everyone is going to work together except Haru and Yusuke, I'm gonna rot in jail because I didn't finish Haru and Yusuke, oh my god" but it was fine.

As far as giving a sense of growth to our cast this whole section was pretty sick!

More on that later, but this was a nice showing of our crew learning that they can change the world Right Now without needing super powers to do so, and getting results for their efforts, I really liked that! :D

Sojiro got so many good scenes of defending Joker's honor and being just a great dude overall.

Mishima called me his best friend :)

Joker was handed Za Warudo, I mean the world, and the velvet room disappeared.

Joker is going home soon- likely the end of the game.

Joker was given chocolate by everyone except Haru and I cried about not finishing confidants.

Makoto showed up and we had a romantic time together, she said there was someone extra special in her life and I answered "Who?"

I love my friends so much; Between Ryuji and Morgana ranting at each other, to Yusuke and Futaba doing the same- love them.

Along with Joker moving back home soon, everyone else is also vanishing it seems.

Haru is moving for college, Makoto is as well, Ryuji is moving to be closer to a physical rehab facility- he's trying to get back into track, Futaba has school upcoming, all told it seems only Yusuke is staying put and it's to work on his painting.

This whole scene of our crew admitting to each other that they aren't going to be sticking around was pretty sweet, all things considered. It was a show that all of them have grown and are redoubling their efforts in their personal lives, and it's just really nice, man :)

I do not know if this is because I screwed up his confidant too much, or if he generally stays for painting. The point being we're all splitting up :(

Sojiro offered me advice on taking a girl out on a date, I made the executive decision to have Joker say "The Bill?" when asked what he hands the girl at the end of the date- I think he's going to do just fine.

And with that we're caught up because as my game sits right now I am buying flowers for said date and saved to handle all this nonsense.

I dislike how I handled this post- going back to explaining what happened instead of sharing my thoughts, I don't find much enjoyment in doing that or find the result particularly interesting to view (which is another reason I do it, I mean I enjoy sharin' my thoughts and hearing others thoughts on the same stuff- just saying "Mario jumped" doesn't really entice much of anything) but I kinda had to with the corrupted video lol.

Glancing back at all that happened in the lost segment, I can mostly just say things have slowed way down and sped way up all at once. Nothing damning is happening anymore, but our lives seem to be rushing forward at a breakneck pace.

While every scene feels like a celebration and leaves me gushing about the friends we've made over the course of this adventure, every scene also builds on the message that "Now it's done. Now you leave" and there's certainly value to that but it leaves me little to say until we actually get to say our good byes- which should be upcoming :)