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- Persona 5 is a game about attaining the sort of freedom people haven’t had living in the real world, according to Persona series director Katsura Hashino. Speaking in the latest issue of Persona Magazine (translated by Pepsiman), Hashino said that today’s world consists of people “bored and discontent with their lives.”
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Feb 5, 2014 · Persona 5 is a game about attaining the sort of freedom people haven’t had living in the real world, according to Persona series director Katsura Hashino.
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Mar 29, 2017 · Pros. +. Exceptional story that addresses real-life issues without being preachy. +. Highly customizable combat. +. Unforgettable soundtrack.
- Susan Arendt
- A strong story and tremendous sense of style make this the best entry in the series yet.
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- Persona 5 Review
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By Andrew Goldfarb
Updated: May 2, 2017 6:59 pm
Posted: Mar 29, 2017 3:59 pm
In stark contrast to the slow burn of epic-length cutscenes that greet you in previous Persona games, Persona 5 starts its long journey with a bang by throwing you directly into a fast-paced foot chase through a vibrant, stylized Tokyo casino. That’s a bold move, and it’s emblematic of the entire experience. As we’re introduced to the complex yet approachable turn-based battle system in those opening moments, series fans will recognize not only returning systems from Persona 3 and 4, but also long-absent elements like ranged weapons and negotiation that haven’t been in a Persona game in over a decade, adding more depth and variety to combat. Persona 5 is the culmination of everything the JRPG series has been building to, with familiar elements dialed up to 11 and some welcome new surprises added into the mix.
In what’s by far the series’ strongest story to date, Persona 5 puts you in the capable shoes of a high school student who spends his evenings saving the world. By day, you’ll attend class, answer quiz questions, and live the life of a typical teenager, but after school you'll see the clever concept of invading the minds of corrupt adults who are up to no good and battling psychological demons in order to change their hearts.
These stand-out dungeons take place in “palaces” created within the mind of each target, and Atlus takes advantage of this to set them in diverse and outlandish places. Unlike the procedurally generated halls of Persona 3’s Tartarus or Persona 4’s Midnight Channel, Persona 5’s labyrinths are fully hand-built and feature unique puzzles and mechanics that vary with the theme of each dungeon and never repeat. A museum, for example, has very different security measures than a Medieval castle, and you’ll find very different enemies in a pyramid than you might in a spaceship. Assembling pieces of secret codes to solve a bank vault’s cryptogram or positioning tiles to interpret hieroglyphics feel almost like entirely different games. This gives each palace a sense of identity tied to the target and provides some smart, unpredictable story moments and challenges.
Of course, like any good JRPG, Persona 5 needs a place to allow you to grind to higher levels by fighting enemies over and over. While you can’t return to palaces once they’re complete, you can continually return to a (singular) area called Mementos. Mementos is a large, separate dungeon that returns to the format of procedurally generated hallways like in previous Persona games, and new, deeper levels are unlocked as you beat more palaces. It’s a welcome change of pace in that it provides straightforward battles with no puzzles in between, which is a nice break after working through a particularly challenging dungeon. Since you can’t return to palaces, Mementos also serves as a great place to recruit Personas that you may have missed in previous dungeons. Personas you previously encountered will begin to turn up in new layers of Mementos after you’ve beaten the palace where they originally appeared. Combined with the ability to fuse Personas into new combinations, this thankfully prevents any Personas from being truly missable.
Missions like these were surprisingly moving in some cases, or ended with unexpected humor in others.
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Mementos is also home to Persona 5’s side missions, which involve triggering smaller-scale changes of heart in enemies like school bullies or clingy exes in order to receive bonus cash and items. These missions aren’t much more than short vignettes and didn’t really provide deep enough stories to make me care about the minor characters, in most cases. That said, a few stood out as particularly effective, such as a pet lover fighting against animal abuse or workers fed up with the exploitive practices of their boss. Missions like these were surprisingly moving in some cases, or ended with unexpected humor in others. The most elaborate side missions are those that you earn through Confidants, which are party members or other characters who you’ll form relationships with and level up over time. These Confidants will occasionally introduce you to additional tangential characters whose heart you’re required to change in Mementos in order to continue progressing your relationship with that Confidant. These were generally great and helped to reveal a neat twist in the corresponding story, such as a sympathetic person actually being sinister or unexpected connections between characters.
Persona 5 is a massive, gorgeous JRPG with well over 100 hours of gameplay for completionists. With more to do than ever and the series’ strongest story to date, it stands out as an extraordinary, memorable experience and easily one of the deepest JRPGs of the last decade. Its sprawling dungeon design and stylish, fully realized world are an absolu...
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Review scoring
amazing
A gorgeous, vibrant world and captivating story make Persona 5 a new gold standard for Japanese RPGs.
Apr 20, 2017 · With Persona 5, Atlus has once again proven that it is the master of the modern JRPG. With terrific style, addictive gameplay, and an engaging, thought-provoking story, Persona 5 not only matches, but often exceeds its predecessors, one of which RPGamer even declared its RPG of the Decade back in 2010. It is an exceptionally long game, with ...
Apr 14, 2017 · In Persona 5, you spend some of your time exploring an alternate dimension based on the unconscious desires of the people around you, and much of the early game takes place in a castle that...
Mar 29, 2017 · At its core, Persona 5 is exactly as advertised: the latest installment in a long-running franchise, which features turn-based combat and the ability to just hang out with your buds.
Persona 5 has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, with praise for its visual presentation, gameplay, story, and music. Persona 5 (including Royal) had sold over 7.2 million units by April 2023, making it the best-selling title in the entire Megami Tensei franchise.
