Persona 5 is a Turn-Based JRPGs game originally released for PS3 and PS4 at Japan in 2016, and at worldwide in 2017. It did received an enhancement version in 2019-20 for PS4, as well as with the PS5, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC are also confirmed in this October 2022 release titled as Persona 5 Royal.
It was developed by P-Studio (under Atlus Co.Ltd) and published by Atlus and Deep Silver for original release, where as the Royal are also published by SEGA.
Before I start reviewing this game, I want to give a small history behind the Atlus's own successful franchise titled as Shin Megami Tensei which was originated in mid-80s starting off with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei for NES, MSX, X1, and FM-7. The title of the game was cooperated with the traditional RPGs genres mixed with Turn-Based battles and 3D dungeon exploration, while it has shares of dark-occult presentation and sci-fi elements.
Despite the franchise weren't introduced to the western territory (until Persona series in mid-90s), the game was commercially successful in Japan was praised for its dark atmosphere and mechanics as both impressive given the limited hardware and innovative among role-playing games of the time.
The following success of the game has spawned with numerous of sequels as well as spin-offs series such as Megami Tensei Gaiden, Majin Tensei, Devil Summoner, Digital Devil Saga, Devil Children, Devil Survivor, and of course Persona which is why they listed Shin Megami Tensei as Atlus's largest role-playing franchises.
First of all, I haven't played nor heard any of Shin Megami Tensei games until when I found out and discovered the spin-off series like Persona where I overheard many of people on the internet been mostly talked about which is why I began to start interested in the series, but unfortunately when it's comes with RPGs are widely known for its long-lengthy campaign which I never had a chance to pick up and play due to being busy studying at my college and university at the time in my early-20s, so I had to start with simple game like Persona 4 Arena which is a 2012's 2D fighting game spin-off title, based on the original 2008's turn-based title Persona 4, that I already covered my review back in 2013 which I labelled the game as the remarkable and most intense fighting game for PS3 and X360 libraries are definitely must buy game for all the fans of the fighting games genres and Persona series.
In around mid-2010s the time where I had the 8th gen console like the PS4, there's one of the game that catches my attention which is Persona 5, a game that I've seen from the trailer back then which I was impressed with the visual art-style, introducing cast of characters, and eye-catching presentation is the main reason why I'm considering want to dig in with the game, so I finally had a chance to play Persona 5 on my PS4, FOR REAL!!!? yes definitely for real.
I've been playing for whole 5 weeks to finish the whole lengthy campaign making it as one of the longest RPGs title that I've ever played which is why I spend playing over 9 hours a day to get the game finished ASAP before I can able to review the game for my next blogpost which is why I here now.
So going back to this review, I'm definitely to talk about Persona 5 which is a game that I wanted to look forward reviewing stuff because I consider this title as yet masterpiece in my opinion, so this game delivers many best, but also has unexpecting moments that I ever experienced.
It's one of the game that I found to be such incredible achievements that I've been spent playing the game over and over nearly 9 hours a day of playthrough that makes up to total of 100 hours campaign filled with many fantastic things that made Persona 5 quite special, so I'm going to discuss the details on my review including the story, characters, visuals, sounds, and gameplay to prove that it's one of the best RPGs title to play on both the PS3 and PS4 library.
I am thou, thou art I...
I hast established to review
Persona 5 for the PS4...
So without go further do,
let's start the review.
Presentation
The game takes place in modern-day Tokyo with navigable real-world locations within the city, including Akihabara, Shinjuku, and Shibuya.
It follows the main protagonist named Joker, which I believe his real name is Ren Amamiya as the name used in the anime TV series based on the title of the same name, so you will have an option to enter your own name at the beginning of the game.
He's one of the character you're playing as who transfers to a new school after being falsely accused of assault and put on one-year probation.
Following his transfer to a new school, he then meet up with the group of other students who also discovered the supernatural mobile app that leads them into the Metaverse, a dark realm place consisting of the physical manifestation of humanity's subconscious desires.
Soon after they awaken the supernatural power known as Persona, they now form a vigilante group known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, as their mission is to explore throughout the Metaverse and expose the dirty secrets of corrupt-minded people by removing malevolent intent from them and cause a change of heart within them.
I find the whole story in the game has an interesting concept that involves the group of heroes went undercover to discover a shocking secrets of those tyranted criminals are responsible with their crimes they committed such as the dark topic like physical abuse, drug trafficking, fraudulent, political corruption, and other illegal acts.
It is so different from any of RPGs games are normally about the heroes went on their quest to defeat the evil and save the world, but when it comes with the games like Persona 5 it's totally something else which I kinda liked the idea of having a game went on a different approach where it relies on you and your group of your friends went on quest to prevent those evil criminals from continuing the habits of crimes that harming the humanity.
The character Ren Amamiya is somewhat typical silent protagonist that doesn't use any lines in the game, but only small parts. He's one of the character which has different kinds of portrayal as the player get to choose with the dialogue option, such as he can be smart or dumb, snarky or funny, depending on how you play, where as many believed that the Ren's portrayal in Anime TV series is somewhat quiet and socially awkward because of his criminal record stigma that he is framed for assaulting the random man and put on probation which resulting in expulsion from his school.
He then later becoming the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts which he named his codename as Joker (Yeah, not to be very confused with the DC villain named Joker from Batman franchise).
He has friends to join with him such as with school delinquent Ryuji Sakamoto, fashion model Ann Takamaki, and Morgana the mysterious cat-like creature. There are more people join the group throughout the game including art prodigy Yusuke Kitagawa, student council president Makoto Niijima, hikikomori computer hacker Futaba Sakura, and cultured corporate heiress Haru Okumura.
There are some supportive characters interacting with main protagonist such as high school detective Goro Akechi, and the public prosecutor and also Makoto's older sister Sae Niijima went on undercover to search and find the vigilante group's identities.
Then you will have an mysterious man name Igor and his two twins assistants Caroline and Justine at the velvet room where they teaches you the rehabilitation in order to become a better person in society, but they may not give you what the final answer is until you progress through the game.
Finally it has shares of villains such as creepy-perverted school teacher, thieving old-senile artist, big-fat drug dealing yakuza, and bold-headed corrupted politician.
The game offers the best looking presentation thanks to visual art-style, especially with the opening credits has a cool manga-style sequence with red and black filters around it is just looking very stylish to watch and I also liked several of anime cutscenes is looking everything fluid which is why the game did get the TV anime adaption in year after the game was originally released back in 2017.
I want to give the game credit for its story dialogue option which allowing the player to pick any of 2 or 3 dialogues may result with the different outcomes of the story such as making wise decision making, wiling to accept the offer, and other things.
I also liked the dialogue conversation between the interaction of the characters to get to know each other such as in socially stuff like how the friends in school being introduced themselves, they liked to be invited into hangouts, and loves to talk about stuff like activities and hobbies they interested in, where as in the mission objectives where they normally meet up to the hideouts to discuss what their strategies and goals are before they are fully prepared to visit the palaces or mementos to take down the most wanted criminal, so this is the game that teaches to build relationship with the friends to gain the trust and made promises to help the society from the terrible crime activity.
The setting of the game has magnificent locations between the real world and metaverse, as the real world does have stuff like the small town such as Yongen-Jaya filled with Cafe shop, medical clinic, second-hand shop, batting center, bathhouse, and supermarket. Shibuya is a big city has train station, underground mall, and central street, where as others such as Shinjuku has movie theater, book store, and bar diner. Akihabara is a town filled with electronic stores that sells anime, manga, video games, electronics, etc.
The metaverse is where groups of team are able to gain access with the mobile app allowing them to visit at shadowy places such as palaces and mementos, so these are the locations that the creepy villains lives inside the cursed world giving their advantage to hide their secrets. Each of the palaces are filled with many weird and darker stuff like big castle filed with...uhhh creepy stuff, huge museum with many counterfeit portraits, floating bank ship with bunch of money placed in saferoom, enormous pyramid with Egyptian-themed structures around it, large spaceport with space centre, and chunk of casinos is basically just like you seen from Las Vegas.
These are very well designed game that made Persona 5 look very unique and stylish which I considered it as work of masterclass that I am happy with the result had turned out so well with the game.
Overall, it has well-written story, amazing cast of characters, and outstanding visual art-style and settings.
Gameplay
The game is a mix of JRPGs and simulation game where you take control of Ren (A.K.A Joker) who lives out a single year while attending school in Tokyo, as it has three types of gameplay including social simulation, dungeon crawling, and turn-based battle while it cycles throughout the game with the day-night system depending on scripted and random events.
In the real world, you'll be attending at the school in the morning first till it finishes at mid-afternoon, so after the school you can able to do whatever you want socially such as talking with NPCs, exploring around the cities and towns, participating part-time jobs, and of course the most important thing in the game is meeting up with friends where you can able to develop character relationships known as confidents, a social link system where you can converse with and improve your relationship with other characters you meets.
Improving confident ranks with party members unlocks various abilities for use in combat, where as with non-party confidents grant other bonuses.
In the metaverse, there are two different types of dungeon crawling gameplay such as story-specific dungeons called palaces and multi-layered mementos. The palaces which are used as story missions where your goal is to defeat and expose their wicked villain's heart, so in order to do that you need to find and steal their treasure, an item that gathered with emotional root of their behaviour and desires, from the palaces ruled by their shadow themselves, so be sure you get it on time before meeting the deadline.
The mementos is basically just classified as the side-missions, so you will receive an request list from any of NPCs where you need to traverse through the floors till you reached at destination where you'll be fighting with the side-bosses. It may not be part of the story-based missions, but playing the request mission will reward you with money as well as gaining many experience points is quite beneficial for those who wanted to achieve their skills.
In dungeon crawling aspects, you and your party members will explore throughout the levels while it's relying on the stealthy-based mechanics where you need able to reach at the goal destination without being detected by enemies or security objects nearby such as camera or spotlight, so you will need to pay attention close at the security meter bar which indicates percentages of security level. If security reaches to 100% then the party is forced to leave the palace may result cycling to the next day, so try not to waste many days till it hits the deadline if you don't get the treasure in time otherwise it may result you with worst possible outcome. The best way to avoid being detected is hiding behind the walls or objects, and of course launching with surprise attacks on enemies from behind may lower the security level.
In turn-based battle, you and your party members are greeted to fight against the enemies, so you will have the list of action commands which indicates stuff such as melee attack, use item, equip gun, personas, and defend.
You will attack the enemy by selecting the melee attack in close range, where as ranged weapons are used for long-distance attack which deals light or mid-damage hits.
The personas acts as the special magic abilities depending on what kind of personas you're using which you can able to equip them from the option menus.
Each of the class personas will have different kinds of abilities such as physical, ice, fire, wind, shock, and etc.
This will allow personas to perform various of attacks and magics such as reducing enemy's strengths, restoring player's health, using shield to prevent enemy's projectiles, putting them into sleep that misses out their turns, and other cool stuff like any of these abilities types that I've mentioned above are used for various reasons.
For example: one of persona has ice abilities are very effective against fire-type enemies, and others will have curable magics to reduce the confusion, fear, and rage of party members, so these are the examples that gives you an idea of finding the enemy's weakest points that made the battle so much easier.
Once the enemy is been knocked down, a hold up sign is triggered which you get to pick any of three options such as all-out attack allowing all party members to unleash their devastating finishes on enemy resulting severe damage, or you can also spare them for mercy by demanding them for money or items, or make a negotiation with them to become a new persona which will add them to the personas list, so the more personas you have collected can be combined or fused or otherwise further manipulated within the velvet room which I will explain it for later on this review.
After defeating the enemies will reward you with money, items, and of course gaining experience points which maximises the player's and team members skill levels which mean that the more skill levels being increases by experience points the better your player and team members becoming stronger that makes different types of enemies and bosses feel vulnerable during the battle, and the personas are also gaining the experience points to increase their skill levels too which improves their attributes as well as unlocking a new learning abilities.
In the velvet room, you have given the choice of any of personas can be sacrificed in three method ways such as guillotine fusion which one of persona can be fused with the resultant persona inheriting skills and stats, the hanging grants a sacrificed persona's experience points to another chosen persona, and electric chair sacrifices one to create a high-end item.
The persona can also be sent into solitary confinement where they undergo training and gain additional skills quick than normal.
So far, the game plays absolutely perfect as it should because the way they designed the whole game combing with dungeon crawling and turn-based battle is just spectacular.
I really love the stealthy mechanics where you can also loop into another hiding objects is the quickest way to evade the enemy nearby before reaching to the safe spot, and the enemy A.I system are pretty smart with detecting the player's hideout is done perfectly right, so when they sees you from the mid-range distance they just went chasing after you quite faster.
Controlling the player is quite solid especially with holding the R2 trigger to sprint through the levels which you can also automatically jumping through the platforms without having to hit cross button to jump seems to be responsive, where as the L2 trigger uses the third-eye, the insight ability which allows the player to highlights the interactable objects and enemies near close are also quite useful for stealthy levels.
I really liked the idea of dungeon crawling aspects where you fight with the shadowy creatures and running through the multiple of areas till you're reached at the final destination is where the treasure item been held, so this is where you can able to steal the bad guy's heart.
The turn-based system works just great with easy to use navigation UI's where it indicates the buttons, rather than the long-traditional menu list like from old-school JRPGs, makes it quick and simple to use commands such as cross button to attack, circle button to defend, square button to use items, triangle button to use personas, d-pad left and right to change targets, and d-pad up to ready and aim with range weapon.
The enemy and boss's A.I system during the battle are really good with the using the magics as well as sensing the player's weaknesses which gives them advantage to evade the player's projectiles, so this will give the players to use their strategies to know what the enemy and boss's weak point are? really adds up the overall challenge.
The boss battle is also pretty epic which doesn't feel disappoint at all which kept me playing it, so stuff like Kamoshida with ugly-ass tongue, floatly portait Madarame, big-bloaty bug Kaneshiro with gigantic piggy bank, a flying-horse Wakaba Isshiki, Okumura and his minions, and tough-raging Shido with golden lion is what I considered as the positive point of the whole game thanks to strategic battle-play that relying on the bosses patterns such as finding out what their weak-spot are and how to evade their severe projectiles is what makes the game so incredible to play.
From outside of the dungeon crawling and turn-based battles, I also enjoyed the simulation parts in the game like hanging out with friends to build-up relationship, do the part-time job at daily to earn wages, shop around the city to buy stuff like DVD and books, go out fishing about, do the workouts like Gym, get stuffed to eat from fast food and restaurant, sit and relax while watching in cinemas, busy reading with books or do homework study, and there's lots more to spend time which really benefits your social stats levels such as knowledge, kindness, guts, charm, and proficiency adds the game's realism.
I felt the whole purpose of the game is well executed that made Persona 5 so unique and different from any of JRPGs, even it's just about almost 100 hours of play-length which is why it's so damn long, but I actually managed to enjoy the game entirely with no issue whatsoever because it's part of the game's fun factor that keeps me playing all day and night.
Overall, it has spectacular dungeon-crawling, incredible turn-based battle, and enjoyable simulation parts.
Graphics
Persona 5 has the best looking visuals in any of JRPGs. I got to give the game credit for it's art-style direction which is why I loved the Anime/Manga in video games.
The character's design is looking perfect with intact facial expressions and body language just feels really good to describe the character's emotions and reactions during the cutscenes as well as the conversation dialogue between two characters.
The environment design of city, town, streets, school, and etc. is not entirely enormous and not quite narrow, but it's just about the right size of the open-area to make the exploration feel concise and easier to navigate location which is why I liked the way the game presents to be simple and straightforward.
The texture wise is looking sharp on the surfaces, has detailed draw-distance, and the use of special effects are also quite solid, especially with the day-night cycle changes the game's weather system starting from drafty raindrops to heated sunlight is just feels natural throughout the game.
I also discovered the video comparison between the PS3 and PS4 when it comes with visual polishing and frame-rate which I'm quite impressed with the 7th generation system like PS3 handles the game pretty well for its technical aspects with teeny bit of minimum frame-drops and small minor screen tearing which you don't notice the much when playing it on the PS3 version should have no issue with the game whatsoever, where as the PS4 version is just full-on perfection.
Overall, it has perfect character's design, damn impressive environments, and has solid day-night cycle system.
Music and Sounds
The original soundtrack is just sounds fantastic in my opinion. I really liked the catchy 70's-style jazzy music throughout the game is just feels too good to listen, as it was composed by Shoji Meguro who has previously worked on his score of previous installiment such as Persona 3 and 4, where stuff like "Wake up, Get up, Get Out There", "Life Will Change", "Last Surprise", "Beneath the Mask", and "The Whims of Fate" was sang by the vocalist Lyn Inaizumi.
They did such an fabulous job on working their original score delivers the game's personality which is why I have the reason to like about the game.
The sound design is pretty damn great, as I really liked the atmospheric sounds of the weather system, city backgrounds, whispering NPCs, and road traffics.
The voice acting in the game is sounds magnificent, especially with English casting voice did such an excellent job of capturing their role in the game to make the characters sounds more interesting and feels so recognisable throughout the sequences.
Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack, great sound design, and magnificent voice cast.
Special Features
The game does support DLCs which includes character's costumes, Japanese audio track, and new difficulty level challenge, where as the Royal DLC pack comes with new royale battle, new costume bundle, and 6 individual sets.
The good news is that it is confirmed that the Persona 5 Royal on PS5, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC will include all free 45 DLC packs at launch that have been released for the PS4 version, but the bad news is the PS4 owners sadly will not able to get free upgradeable PS5 version which is kinda bummer for those who own the PS4 copy of Persona 5 Royal were hoping to have their game upgraded on PS5 could have been sound like the great edition to its game.
Overall, still has an brilliant content.
Advantages
Well-written story
Amazing cast of characters
Outstanding visual art-style and settings
Spectacular dungeon-crawling
Incredible turn-based battle
Enjoyable simulation parts
Fantastic soundtrack
Disadvantages
PS4 version of Persona 5 Royal lacks free upgradable for PS5 (FOR REAL!!!? WTF!!!)
Final Verdict
Presentation 10/10 - well-written story, amazing cast of characters, and outstanding visual art-style and settings.
Gameplay 10/10 - spectacular dungeon-crawling, incredible turn-based battle, and enjoyable simulation parts.
Graphics 10/10 - perfect character's design, damn impressive environments, and has solid day-night cycle system.
Music and Sounds 10/10 - fantastic soundtrack, great sound design, and magnificent voice cast.
Special Features 9/10 - character's costumes, Japanese audio track, and new difficulty level challenge, where as the Royal DLC pack comes with new royale battle, new costume bundle, and 6 individual sets, where as Persona 5 Royal on PS5, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC will include all free 45 DLC packs at launch.
Overall 10/10 - This is not just being one of the best in the series so far, but it is also one of Atlus's JRPGs masterpiece that I highly recommended to play it.
The story, the characters, the battle system, the art direction, the sounds, and has tons of replay value is proving how much I love the hell out of this game really gains my overall satisfaction.
Persona 5 is one of the game that Atlus just did the series a wonderful justice which is perfect for both the newcomer and pro-RPGs players to experience an lengthy single-player adventure with over-the-top turn-based action, exciting dungeon crawling exploration, and epic boss battles to keep you well entertained with the game.
The PS4 copy of the original title cost about between £10 to £15, where as the Royal edition are less than £20. The digital copy on both the original and Royal from PS Store cost £50 are quite expensive compared with the physical copy that I've mentioned above.
If any of you PS3 owners are planning to get a physical PS3 copy should cost around between £25 and over £30 which is slight bit pricy compared with the PS4 copy, so you may want to get it ASAP while it lasts because the price are likely to go up pretty soon.
It is also coming soon to PS5, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC this October 2022, which many of you lucky Xbox subscribers are likely to get it free on Xbox Game Pass at launch, FOR REAL!!!? yes for real of course.
I am thou, thou art I...
I hast concluded my review of Persona 5
as one of the Atlus's JRPGs masterpiece...
Is definite must buy for those who loved RPGs.
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