I am basically finished with P5S, and my overall take is that it's... fine? It isn't amazing (except the soundtrack), but it's pretty good as an action game and pretty good as more Persona.
I think the one thing that really knocks it down is that there just isn't enough time to relax and hang out with the characters. The emotional beats are all pretty generic, which is fine in a Persona game when you already spent hours hanging with the characters so it pays off better, but falls a lot more flat when you really haven't had as much time to become attached. It doesn't help that
the game more or less explicitly tells you "oh yeah this is just like the last game's ending"
which makes the comparisons much, much more obvious.
I also think the dungeon structures were a little... weird. They seemed to vary wildly in size and they were (justifiably) inconsistent in their setup in a way that felt like there were some cut elements or shuffling around of the plot; an especially notable part was where they explicitly called out a vent to crawl through in a later dungeon, which screamed "THIS AREA WAS BUILT FOR A VERTICAL SLICE OR MEANT TO BE AN EARLY DUNGEON" after a game of crawling through vents everywhere.
I am basically finished with P5S, and my overall take is that it's... fine? It isn't amazing (except the soundtrack), but it's pretty good as an action game and pretty good as more Persona.
I'm currently on my Merciless difficulty run, and I'm closing in on the Platinum (just a couple more Treasure demons and maxing out Bonds now). I'll be done with the game once I finish the Merciless run, I think.
It's a "fine" game, and it's certainly the only Musou game to ever hold my attention (I usually hate Dynasty Warriors), and it was cozy to revisit with this family again and to know that they were still friends. I had the same feelings when playing through P4 Dancing All Night and Persona 4 Arena. I wish everything mechanics-wise (outside of the Musou gameplay loop) wasn't just a stripped down version of the mainline games. The Fusion system is both the most forgiving version that they've had and also the simplest. Why do the guns even exist for most of the characters (other than Joker, who has the only interesting Gun combat mechanics, and maybe Haru, who has that grenade launcher)? The cooking system also felt very "bare minimum".
I think the one thing that really knocks it down is that there just isn't enough time to relax and hang out with the characters. The emotional beats are all pretty generic, which is fine in a Persona game when you already spent hours hanging with the characters so it pays off better, but falls a lot more flat when you really haven't had as much time to become attached.
Once they took out the time management aspects (other than, like, two RP scenes), it really put the structure of the game on rails. And since there are only two new characters, it ends up with a cursory look at the returning cast, at best.
It was definitely worth my time and money, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But it's definitely "slightly disappointing, but enjoyable, sequel" territory. My hope is that they do the same treatment for some other SMT/Persona games. Or have a big-ass crossover with the P3-5 cast.
Guns do P5Original level damage, so they do have some use. Sulukaja'd Fox using his rifle to snipe constant crits does great damage and shield breaking. Skull's charged shotgun blasts are also not bad.
Is P5S entirely linear, or are there things to do other than the current palace? A lot of the Warriors games have side missions with special battles, or the ability to go back to older missions and replay for loot/xp/resources.
Is P5S entirely linear, or are there things to do other than the current palace? A lot of the Warriors games have side missions with special battles, or the ability to go back to older missions and replay for loot/xp/resources.
The story and activities are pretty linear (you don't really get a choice of what to do day-to-day, but then again, all of the game takes place over the span of a little over a month), but starting with a point in the 2nd dungeon, you can go back to earlier dungeons, and they give you missions to fulfill in previous dungeons. The dungeons themselves in the early portions of the game are pretty open-world-y, but the final dungeons are pretty straight-and-narrow.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Guns do P5Original level damage, so they do have some use. Sulukaja'd Fox using his rifle to snipe constant crits does great damage and shield breaking. Skull's charged shotgun blasts are also not bad.
P5S makes me grouchy cause all the delicious food and talk of delicious food makes me so hungry
Also, way too easy to get 100-0’d cause you missed a cue or got stuck in an attack animation.
But worth it for more time with best girl Makoto and my precious golden retriever of a boy Ryuji
Matev on
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
Hail Hydra
+2
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
edited March 2021
Fifth jail
I pumped my fist and shouted when Zenkichi awakened his persona. I didn't know he'd be playable, just figured he was there to move things along, but nope! So fucking cathartic seeing him start kicking ass.
I started playing Persona 4 Golden on my Vita again.
I considered getting it on Steam, but my clear data is on Vita. Transferring a save off of Vita looks pretty hard, but I bet I could find a save to copy pretty easily. But I didn't and now it's May 2.
The 'retry' option that you unlock is pretty silly. It happens when the protagonist dies in a fight. But it doesn't restart the fight. It just revives, fully heals, and removes debuffs on your entire party. Is it limited? I kludged my way through the optional boss at the end of Yukiko's castle thanks to it. I didn't really want to rely on cheese but I didn't have a recent save so I didn't want to test what not retrying meant. The customizable difficulty is great, and should be available at the start of Persona games. I turned my damage down, enemy damage up, and XP and Yen up. That feels right for a new game+
I pumped my fist and shouted when Zenkichi awakened his persona. I didn't know he'd be playable, just figured he was there to move things along, but nope! So fucking cathartic seeing him start kicking ass.
See, I pretty much figured he would become part of the Shadow Thieves, as the games traditionally have a latecomer join with some weird and overpowered abilities.
But I did NOT expect the persona to be fucking Jean Valjean from Les Miserables. He even has "24601" on a nameplate on his chest! And based on the dialogue prior to his awakening, it seems like it's the MUSICAL version of Jean Valjean, not just the character from the novel. This is so totally my jam.
I pumped my fist and shouted when Zenkichi awakened his persona. I didn't know he'd be playable, just figured he was there to move things along, but nope! So fucking cathartic seeing him start kicking ass.
See, I pretty much figured he would become part of the Shadow Thieves, as the games traditionally have a latecomer join with some weird and overpowered abilities.
But I did NOT expect the persona to be fucking Jean Valjean from Les Miserables. He even has "24601" on a nameplate on his chest! And based on the dialogue prior to his awakening, it seems like it's the MUSICAL version of Jean Valjean, not just the character from the novel. This is so totally my jam.
Spoiler for Jail 6
I liked Sophia's persona a lot too. I mean her getting Pandora makes sense, but I loved how during the awakening it flashes on her visor.
League of Legends: Sorakanmyworld
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
I started playing Persona 4 Golden on my Vita again.
I considered getting it on Steam, but my clear data is on Vita. Transferring a save off of Vita looks pretty hard, but I bet I could find a save to copy pretty easily. But I didn't and now it's May 2.
The 'retry' option that you unlock is pretty silly. It happens when the protagonist dies in a fight. But it doesn't restart the fight. It just revives, fully heals, and removes debuffs on your entire party. Is it limited? I kludged my way through the optional boss at the end of Yukiko's castle thanks to it. I didn't really want to rely on cheese but I didn't have a recent save so I didn't want to test what not retrying meant. The customizable difficulty is great, and should be available at the start of Persona games. I turned my damage down, enemy damage up, and XP and Yen up. That feels right for a new game+
Battle Retry is unlimited, no drawbacks. It's like Phoenix Mode, or Narrative Difficulty, for players who don't want any challenge. It's off by default except on the easiest difficulty setting.
ESRB finally rated the Nocturne remaster, looks like it's finally coming out here soon
+2
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gavindelThe reason all your softwareis brokenRegistered Userregular
I am playing Persona Q2 on the 3ds, and I have the distinct impression they felt the need to pad this game with dialogue. Does every single character have to have something to say at least three times a floor? With a cast across three games...
Is the FemC being gay based on anything? Like something that happens in the game or the spinoffs? From what I understand, she only dates the guys? I'm not here to attack fanon, just curious if their basis is 100% "I want it," or not.
Is the FemC being gay based on anything? Like something that happens in the game or the spinoffs? From what I understand, she only dates the guys? I'm not here to attack fanon, just curious if their basis is 100% "I want it," or not.
Apart from Elizabeth, who is very MC-sexual, I think all her female friendships are platonic.
Is the FemC being gay based on anything? Like something that happens in the game or the spinoffs? From what I understand, she only dates the guys? I'm not here to attack fanon, just curious if their basis is 100% "I want it," or not.
She can date both Aegis and Elizabeth, and a few of her other links with girls get kinda subtexty.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Johnny ChopsockyScootaloo! We have to cook!Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered Userregular
Rolled credits on P5 Strikers. Waiting for a bit before doing the post-game stuff to get the Platinum trophy.
What a fun game. I loved doing more stuff with the crew. I loved actually being able to hang out with crew that got shortchanged for screentime in P5R (Haru gets to roll with you the whole time!). I loved the combat once I got the feel for it. I loved that if you brought the right crew into a boss fight, you could trap the boss in a festival of command baton passes, 1 Mores, All Out Attacks, and Showtimes.
I'm actually thankful to the new grinding bonus dlc so I can play the game on Hard where the battles are the most fun, but not have to suffer the massively inflated bullshit compendium and magatama prices (3x) which is just tedium and did nothing but multiply the grind and not the game's difficulty.
Fighting your shadow-self is one of my favorite tropes in video games, period. I literally never get tired of it, and the more that they actually replicate what your character can do and how you act, the better.
What I WOULD have preferred is a much more aggressive fight, with much less health, but you need to do it for ALL the Phantom Thieves so the fight would be roughly the same length, but giving you the chance to fight everyone's copy
+5
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Andy JoeWe claim the land for the highlord!The AdirondacksRegistered Userregular
You know, the city where I live is much smaller than Sapporo, and I haven't run into the mayor by chance even once, let alone twice in a week.
I've hit the credits on Strikers, I'm into the post-game. Not sure if there's a "true ending" or anything (and I'm not asking if there is, I'll keeping poking around and see if I feel compelled to stick around)
Overall, I really liked this game. Some great character moments, gameplay that really grew on me (even if I wish there were more gimmick boss fights and fewer "what if a billion HP?" boss fights), an overall thematic thrust that complimented P5 without retreading it. Good shit! It felt like a solid second season of a TV show I was already a fan of.
That said, it's possible to summarize the entire game with one of my favorite Dia Lacina trollish-but-not-NECESSARILY-trolling meme images:
Posts
I actually said "Holy shit" out loud when Lyn did her yell.
Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
I think the one thing that really knocks it down is that there just isn't enough time to relax and hang out with the characters. The emotional beats are all pretty generic, which is fine in a Persona game when you already spent hours hanging with the characters so it pays off better, but falls a lot more flat when you really haven't had as much time to become attached. It doesn't help that
which makes the comparisons much, much more obvious.
I also think the dungeon structures were a little... weird. They seemed to vary wildly in size and they were (justifiably) inconsistent in their setup in a way that felt like there were some cut elements or shuffling around of the plot; an especially notable part was where they explicitly called out a vent to crawl through in a later dungeon, which screamed "THIS AREA WAS BUILT FOR A VERTICAL SLICE OR MEANT TO BE AN EARLY DUNGEON" after a game of crawling through vents everywhere.
It's a "fine" game, and it's certainly the only Musou game to ever hold my attention (I usually hate Dynasty Warriors), and it was cozy to revisit with this family again and to know that they were still friends. I had the same feelings when playing through P4 Dancing All Night and Persona 4 Arena. I wish everything mechanics-wise (outside of the Musou gameplay loop) wasn't just a stripped down version of the mainline games. The Fusion system is both the most forgiving version that they've had and also the simplest. Why do the guns even exist for most of the characters (other than Joker, who has the only interesting Gun combat mechanics, and maybe Haru, who has that grenade launcher)? The cooking system also felt very "bare minimum".
Once they took out the time management aspects (other than, like, two RP scenes), it really put the structure of the game on rails. And since there are only two new characters, it ends up with a cursory look at the returning cast, at best.
It was definitely worth my time and money, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But it's definitely "slightly disappointing, but enjoyable, sequel" territory. My hope is that they do the same treatment for some other SMT/Persona games.
Mona's slingshot hits goddamn everything. It's pretty great.
Also, way too easy to get 100-0’d cause you missed a cue or got stuck in an attack animation.
But worth it for more time with best girl Makoto and my precious golden retriever of a boy Ryuji
I considered getting it on Steam, but my clear data is on Vita. Transferring a save off of Vita looks pretty hard, but I bet I could find a save to copy pretty easily. But I didn't and now it's May 2.
The 'retry' option that you unlock is pretty silly. It happens when the protagonist dies in a fight. But it doesn't restart the fight. It just revives, fully heals, and removes debuffs on your entire party. Is it limited? I kludged my way through the optional boss at the end of Yukiko's castle thanks to it. I didn't really want to rely on cheese but I didn't have a recent save so I didn't want to test what not retrying meant. The customizable difficulty is great, and should be available at the start of Persona games. I turned my damage down, enemy damage up, and XP and Yen up. That feels right for a new game+
But I did NOT expect the persona to be fucking Jean Valjean from Les Miserables. He even has "24601" on a nameplate on his chest! And based on the dialogue prior to his awakening, it seems like it's the MUSICAL version of Jean Valjean, not just the character from the novel. This is so totally my jam.
Spoiler for Jail 6
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Battle Retry is unlimited, no drawbacks. It's like Phoenix Mode, or Narrative Difficulty, for players who don't want any challenge. It's off by default except on the easiest difficulty setting.
ESRB finally rated the Nocturne remaster, looks like it's finally coming out here soon
I'm REALLY loving the Zenkichi scenes, and Haru is a huuuuge part of the why.
Steam: YOU FACE JARAXXUS| Twitch.tv: CainLoveless
Is the FemC being gay based on anything? Like something that happens in the game or the spinoffs? From what I understand, she only dates the guys? I'm not here to attack fanon, just curious if their basis is 100% "I want it," or not.
Apart from Elizabeth, who is very MC-sexual, I think all her female friendships are platonic.
She can date both Aegis and Elizabeth, and a few of her other links with girls get kinda subtexty.
Coming to PS4, Switch, and Steam(!) on 5/25.
Jail 7
All in all, happy ending, great stuff. Cried at the end because yet another adventure with those damn kids is over.
What a fun game. I loved doing more stuff with the crew. I loved actually being able to hang out with crew that got shortchanged for screentime in P5R (Haru gets to roll with you the whole time!). I loved the combat once I got the feel for it. I loved that if you brought the right crew into a boss fight, you could trap the boss in a festival of command baton passes, 1 Mores, All Out Attacks, and Showtimes.
But more importantly, what an amazing soundtrack.
Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
what do you call normal difficulty
Normal. As in, normal levels of blood and tears for Megaten.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I want to play Royal so bad. I even bought it on PS4 when it was on sale over the holidays.
But I really don't want to turn on the PS4 anymore. Just give it to me on Steam already.
What I WOULD have preferred is a much more aggressive fight, with much less health, but you need to do it for ALL the Phantom Thieves so the fight would be roughly the same length, but giving you the chance to fight everyone's copy
Overall, I really liked this game. Some great character moments, gameplay that really grew on me (even if I wish there were more gimmick boss fights and fewer "what if a billion HP?" boss fights), an overall thematic thrust that complimented P5 without retreading it. Good shit! It felt like a solid second season of a TV show I was already a fan of.
That said, it's possible to summarize the entire game with one of my favorite Dia Lacina trollish-but-not-NECESSARILY-trolling meme images: