Genre: Turn Base RPG, Slice of Life, Dungeon Crawl
Consoles: Ps3,Ps4
Published:Atlus/Sega
Developers:Atlus, P-studio
Released:September 2016
Persona 5 is the fifth installment of the Persona Series developed by Atlus. Before proceeding with further details about the game it is safe to inform that even though this is Persona 5 the game is not related
with any of the other Persona games. Just like Final Fantasy, each number of series represents the specidic cast, for example when referring to Persona 5, the cast will always revolve around the character of Ren AKA Joker and his group of
phantom thieves. However concepts such as metaverse, Personas thieves velvet rooms are similar.
The game was released at the end end of September 2016 after a plethera of delays, however this did not stop Persona 5 from establishing it self as a must play game and as one of the best Persona games currently available. The game was
developed by Atlus' P-studio, who worked on other Persona games and generally with the Shin Megami Tensei series.. The game was self published by Atlus(Sega) and as of now it is only available for SONY's playstation console
as an Exclusive.The game was released in the following forms:
Standard
Included the game alone
Deluxe
Included the game, steelbook case, digital audio
Collectors Edition (Phantom Thieves Edition Only)
Included the game, Original Sountrack (Cd), Physical Artbook, Collectors Box, Steelbook case, PS4 theme and Joker'smask with its stand
Online Store
The game can be purchased online in it's Ultimate bundle containning plenty of in game benefits such as access to Powerfull Personas, skins and others.
It should aslo be noded how Persona 5 as a standard game is given free to every Ps Plus subscriber playing on the Ps5 as part of their ps plus library access. As mentioned Persona 5 became an instant classic and was beloved around the world by
fans of the series and newcommers who liked the art of the game. The sales of the game skyrocketed (which was new for persona games in the West) and the game was constantly receiving various of awards ( such as Best RPG (2017)) and plenty of nominations.
Persona 5's popularity also increased with the inclusion of Joker as the first DLC hero in the famous Super Smash Brothers Ultimate game. The game also received a 26 epsisodes animated series that covered the story and
many other spin off games such as a rythm game Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, an enchanced version with updated mechanicks and story known as Persona 5 Royal, and a sequel which change the core gameplay known as Persona 5 strikers.
Although i personally find Joker in smash as Persona 5's biggest collaboration, characters from persona made it into a plethera of other games such as Sonic Forces, Super Monkey Ball, Dragon's Dogma and plenty of others.
Story of the Game (Minor Spoilers)
In Persona 5 game, the player gets the cotnrol of the protagonist, who is accused of a crime and was sent to Tokyo to continue his studies for a year , as the school there was the only one to accept a student with a 'criminal' record.
He was chosen by a higher being to play the role of the trickster who will try to prevent an evil diety from attacking the world. Along the way he makes new friends and confidants that help him in his adventures. These new group of his
is called the Phantom thieves. There are people in the world, who 're being terrible human beings and manipulate others. There is a parallel universe known as the metaverse where the enemy acts as a higher being and have their
own Palaces and treasures. Joker and the phantom thieves are task to venture inside the palaces, steal the treasure in order to perform a change of heart before a given timestamp. They re capable of fighting in the metaverse with the help
of Personas. Persona is the spirit Powerfull manifestation of someones inner self. Every thief are in the possession of only one persona BUT Joker who is capable of controlling multiple ones.
The player is then given a game where they spent time in the real world as "Ren"( Or whatever name the Player chooses), a transfer student who is seen as a bad influence and a criminal who is attending school, tries to become the number one
student by studying and performing well, getting a side job for currency and lives in an Attic of the Leblanc Cafe as the owner is acting as his guardian. Needless to say as a young teen, Ren can hang out with his friends in the arcade(or any other location)
flirt with girls and generally live a day by day cycle (which is what you have to do) as a normal human being.
However as i mentioned though, Ren is no ordinary boy as he was chosen to be the trickster in the adventure that will follow. Once the Ren steps in the metaverse and a few early events occur, Ren obtains the power of Persona, as Arsene appears to him
and offers him a contract.As more events occur Ren is slowly joined by his friends/ or simply people he will soon be friends with and become more familiar with the conept of Metaverse. To hide their identities all of them choose a nickname to which they will
be responding in the metaverse and thus Ren becomes Joker. They decide that they themselves should also have a team name and thus the legendary Phantom Thieves are born. Their goal is to stop every bad guy and clear the society of people
who re simply there to be ontop of others. The way things work, is that the phantom thieves must locate a given target, locate the location of their Palace in the real world, enter the keywords assosiated with the person and then access the Palace. Inside the
palace, the thieves have to make their way in, either stealthy or by forcing their way in with their personas and locate the Treassure room. The treassure room consist of a material that helped the owner turn 'evil'. Once the treassure is acquired, the
real world counterpart of the Palace Owner will suffer a change of heart and begins to feel guilty for all of their negative actions, and will also confess to everything they ve done. However messing with someone's inner counterpart may result to some negative,
unwanted results.
The concept of phantom thieves become more and more popular with the real world and plenty of concerns are raised as to whether or not what the thieves are doing is rightfull having both fans and haters. Furthermore there are also people aware of the metaverse
who abuse the rules of it in order to make things come easier for them. Furthermore the metaverse it self is not a place someone wants to spent much time in.
Story thoughts
The story of the game is fascinating, exciting and packed with plenty of action and memorable moments. First things first the majority of the game is fully Voice acted and the story is delivered in the three forms. These are :
Cutscenes where the character's in game avatars barely move and theres a dialogue box underneath with the subtitles
Cutscenes with in game avatar's acting along
Cutscenes with handrawn animation, very similar to the Anime
The story feels fresh and has plenty of mysterious elements to add to it. The characters of both the thieves and enemies are extremely well written if the player chooses to spent time with them. A normal walk through( not 100% completion ) can last up to 100 hours
which is alot, however it manages to keep things interesting with it's gameplay and plot. The phantom thieves themselves are well written and have different personalities. Furthermore the game as mentioned, although it has the mystery of the metaverse, also spents
alot of time with the phantom thieves as they re with the player throughout everything and because of that when a specific thief has a moment good or bad you shared their emotions. Another great aspect of the story is that it knows where and when to focus on certain
things and how much it requires, which showcases that the game had alot of attention when it was beeing made. As someone who never played a Persona game or a Shin Megami Tenseit of Persona 5, it goes without saying that some tears were shread and generally undestood
the majority of the game, the world and it's rules. A great inclusion in Persona 5 is that ithas Multiple endings depending on how the player plays their game. There's a Good Ending, a Bad and a Mediocre ending. In fact the game offers multiple times that the
player can stop the game. One way is failling a palace, second way is choosing the wrong option in a big plot point of the game which will result on its ending, and the third set of endings is given if the player succesfully chose the correct option in the second set
and played the game correct.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Persona 5 similar to other Persona games, seperate it self into two categories.
Gameplay based on the real World
Gameplay inside the Metaverse
The gameplay outside of the metaverse, is pretty much the a real life simulation. The player gets control of the main character Joker and they move around in a given playable area. They can interact with the rest of the cast found around the area or random NPCs.
They can purchase stuff from the stores that they can use to upgrade themselves or any other party members, or even buy items that can be used in battle inside the Metaverse. Other than that it offers the player the opportunity to choose diffrent dialogue options for
the interaction that can make each of the game runs unique. Doing the interactions and accepting random sidequests from the Phantom thieves and the others, will always grand the player Confidant point. Confidant points are gained when the player hangs out with
a friend in order to boost their frienship level and gain in game benefits. Each Thief/Friend have their own trust level and the player must boost them each individually. The friendship level begins from 1 and can go all the way to 10. Furthermore, it is important to boost
Rens social status in terms of popularity, knowledge, appeal and others. Each status is gained by different actions, for example spenting time studying increasses Rens knowledge where as working on a part time job rewards Joker with a status based on his job(Flower seller, shop sellet etc.)
The way a player spents their time will affect their game progression speed and popularity polls. Furthermore the player spents alot of time in school, where he ll have to select the right options and answers to questions. There will be exam sections so it is recomended to pay attention
to what the teacher says. The time spent in the real world is limited, as certain things may take longer than others making the day skip. Visiting the Palace can occur once per day. Realism exist in small details such as a smoothy store that becomes available once per week and the sauna
spa that are open during certain time stamps.
The gameplay changes significally when the player visits the Metaverse. In the Metaverse the player is manuvering around the 'bad guys Palace' until they succesfully make their way to the treassure room. In the palace there are plenty of enemy guards who are manuvering around. In the top middle
of the screen there is an awareness bar which represents how much on guard are the guards. The lesser the bar the lessin danger are the thieves to be spotted, where as the more noise or active they re the more alert the guards are. The guards move around in a given pattern and the player can easily
manuver around them, Ambush them or run straight towards them (which may alert them abit.). Ambush is the best way to approach a battle as it will grant the player the first strike as the enemies begin the fight stunned.(More on Combat below). Within the palace there are plenty of safe rooms
where the player can choose to rest, discuss with the thieves and even exiting the palace. Once again leaving the palace will instantly forbit the player from accessing it again during the same day. The safe rooms can be the starting point when visiting the castle back. Furthermore, whilst in palace
joker has accessed to his 'third eye' where secret items or enemy lazer become visible to the player. Inside the palace there are various chests which can be oppened at once or requires Joker to craft a tool in the real world that can breech the locks. Once the treasure room is found, the player will
have to leave the metaverse, and send a calling card in the real world in order to open the room.Calling Cards are the phantom thieves' signature, notifying their targets that they're about to have their treasure stolen. They usually have a personalized note to both alert targets and let everyone
know there's knowledge of the targets' wrongdoing out there in the world. Sending a calling card indicates two things:
The final Boss Battle of the battle will occur
The Palace will dissappear once the battle is done, Any chests left unopenned will be lost forever as the thieves cannot come back.
Things that the players should be aware is their deadline. Each time a new villain is introduce through the story certain events give the phantom thieves a deadline before something that is bad occurs. For example, if the bad guy is not defeated in 30 days the game will result in a game over as the thieves
target escaped them.
Compat
The compat of the game is turn base between four thieves and a set of enemies. Once the thieves ambush or attack an enemy, a number of enemies will appear and they ll have to fight them. the enemies can also ambush the thieves if the player isnt paying attention. The game
offers the player to use normal attacks, range attacks with the help of the gun and attacks while using the personas. Normal attacks are the same for all the thieves where they ll use their normal mellee weapon and can use it any time. Guns have a limited amount of times they can be fired.
Each thieves weapon differ, as Joker can shoot one at a time where as someone like Panther sprays the area and who ever was hit ,was hit. The ammount of bullets available can be seen when selecting the option to use the gun. The main way to deal significant damage is through the power of persona.
The player can choose the persona option, every hero has one persona and thus they ll have to choose which skill to use on which taget, unless its an AoE attack. Joker on the other hand posses more than one and the player can scroll through his personas and choose which one to use and which attack
in the fly. All personas are bound to one element, meanning they re more effective againts certain enemies but weaker againts others. Exploring the weakness is important as they might grant the user another chance to attack or knockdown the enemy. When an enemy is knocked down the player can bargain
with the enemy or use the All out attack to deal severe damage. If a Persona is regrouped or is hit with their weapon/element of weakness that weakness will become aware to the player and they can instantly click a button so that they can see which attack to use from which Persona. All the
members of the thieves have their own HP bar and SP bar. Health bar represents the health of each hero and Sp the stamina which is what Personas are using. A defeated thief will be knockdown when their Hp reaches 0, however if Jokers life reaches 0 its game over. The player can heal by either using an
item or a health spell from persona. Leaving and renetering a palace will start again with everyone fully stocked. The player can always select the option to choose guard in order to prevent themselves from receiving damage. Different personas have various attacks that can grant buffs, deal damage to a
single target or multiple ones. The type of attack and the cost can be seen when selecting. The icon on the left represent the type, and on the right its the cost. Most personas require SP where as others HP. When personas level up they might receive a new attack that will need to replace a given one.
Swapping thieves and party can only occur before entering a palace or when inside a safe room. If Joker increases the level of each thief they ll gain new abilities such as passing turns. This means that a hero can simply pass their turn to a different target who might ve attacked or is yet to attack in order to
attack twice. Futhermore, heroes might decide to help you by either guarding the upcomming attack or removing a debuff from the player such as waking the player when slept.
Regrouping a Persona
In order to regroup a new persona the player will have to attack using the weakness of the enemy in order to knock them down. When the enemies are knock down the thieves will suround the enemy whilst pointing their guns. the player is then given the option for an all out attack or to
bargain. All out attack will play a cinematic where the thieves jump on the enemy dealling them high ammount of damage. The chance to bargain will make the player choose what they want between money, items or for them to join him. Some enemies might join without hesitation while others will
need to see if Joker is a leader the wish to follow. They will then have a brief dialogue where the player will have to choose three times how they ll respond. If the answers given are to the persona's liking they ll join Joker and aid him in battle, if not they ll just leave. Personas that
are already owned will reward more items and coins when they re being requested to join, give money or item.
Velvet Room
This is the place where the player can create new personas, or power up the ones they already own. Mixing personas should be a must for every player. mask. In order to fuse a persona, the players will have to check which ones are listed as materials to create the one of preference.
Note some may require a specific Persona on a specific level. When both criteria are met the player will have to confirm in order to fuse. Once the fusion is made, the game will then request the players to select which skills they wish to carry over from the Personas used as crafting
materials. As mentioned, it is reccomended that Joker will always have:
a persona with the support skills, such as rez and healing,
a persona with buffs and debuffs
Arsene (cause he is cool and it's Joker's starting Persona)
a persona that is being mainly use(maybe cause of higher level
and the rest being personas that could inherit different elemental attacks so that there will always be a Counter to whoever is currently the enemy
The other part in the velvet room is the enchansment. Basicaly if there's a persona of preference but is low leveled, the player can keep it relevant by boosting its power status individually and leveling it up. Above i previously mentioned Arsene
who i simply find him cool and i had to always keep him leveled up by spending time grinding him and boosting him in order to be relevant. SUrely there are other personas with strong Curse powers but dont look as cool. The last thing i would personally recomend while in velvet room is to always
register your personas. Registering a persona will save the persona and its stats, and will allow you to regroup that persona later on. For example, if you have an unregister Arsene level 50 and use him as a fusion materia, If you wish to regroup him again he ll be back to level 1, but if you register
him he ll be available at lvl 50 with all the skills he used to have.
Collectables && Post-content
The game does not have a specific type of collectable. The only things that could be counted towards a type of collectable are all the Personas.
There is no post game content as the game expects the player to do side stuff while playing the game. As mentioned the player cannot access a finished Palace as they dissappear once cleared. There are plenty of side quest that can be accessed from the main menu where the player will have to kill
or collect certain items found in a palace or metaverse. Some quests are given by the thieves, some from friends and others from the phantom thieves website. Completing side quests will reward the player with Experience and items.
Art and Music
The art style of the game is beautiful and unique which inspired other Games. Masahiro Sakurai (Creator of Kirby) made the user interface of smash bros ultimate very similar to persona as he fell in love with the game appearance. The animation and the coloring both are on point. The characters voice acting
is very good and entertaining. I could tell the voice actors were excited and showed their passion for their characters. The game also consists of plenty of animated and in game graphick cutscenes which are amazing and very welcomed. The music is top tier and has songs that became iconic such as the
Change of heart Last surprise and rivers in the desert are very good and hype up the majority of the scenes they are involved..
Sum Up
Overall Persona 5 is a great game and worthy of all the praises it got. The turn base gameplay feels fresh and interesting with the options that it offers. The story, music and animation is fantastick. Every character plays slightly different from each other
and shine through in their own unique ways. Whether its their mellee weapon, gun or their persona. It may be a long game (100+ Hours)but the magic of the game is captivating and keep things interesting through out. The game does not expect the player to know the events or any basic information from past
persona entries as they explain everything from zero. The game offers okenty of side activities such as baseball minigame, plenty of side quests and others.
