Topic: Persona 5

@johncalmc Ah man, bananas are good. 😂

So for someone who is about to start the game soon, your recommendation would be to play on the easiest difficulty? (I know this wouldn't affect the mazes and puzzles most likely, but it would make it easier to get through battles so you can get on with the story, I would suspect)

@Th3solution It all depends on you, really. The difficulty level doesn't effect trophies at all, if you're interested, so you can play the whole game on easy and still platinum it. The only thing it changes is the difficulty of the battles. The dungeons are the same layout and you'll fight the same bosses and monsters and solve all of the same puzzles, but if you're on easy you don't take as much damage, the enemies take more damage, and you earn more experience and money from battle. The only reason, really, to play on a harder difficulty is if you, personally, feel like more of a challenge. And the level of challenge will be different depending on how familiar you are with the series/genre.

I played it on normal and it felt easier than Persona 4 Golden and way easier than Persona 3. But I have friends who played it without playing any of the series before and they found the combat difficult on normal.

If you're unsure, playing on easy will almost certainly lead to less frustration, and a more streamlined experience with the story, and depending on what you want out of the game, that might be preferable.

Also, I apologise in advance if any of the information I've given turns out to be wrong. I haven't touched the game since it came out.

@Th3solution As @johncalmc said, the only thing difficulty changes is how hard the fights are. I would say though that it might be mind numbingly boring going through the game's dungeons on easy, I personally didn't find any challenge on normal outside of the odd boss (and even then I managed to do most on a first try), albeit this isn't my first Persona game. If I remember correctly you can lower and raise the difficulty during the game (except for if you go for the easiest option, safety), so I'd go with either normal or even hard and see how you find it as you can always just adjust it later if needed.

@Dichotomy @KratosMD @johncalmc All useful feedback. Thank you. I played P4G on Easy I think and it was a little too easy for most of it, but I rather liked having so much money that I was never want for buying anything. I also appreciated the fact that given the sheer length of these games I was able to take long breaks (I think P4G took me a year or more to finally "finish") away from the game, play other games and come back to it, and not feel like the difficulty was too much to get reaccostomed to.
I know this is 100-120 hour game for a first playthrough, so I expect to mix it in and play a couple other games simultaneously. Who knows, maybe I'll be wrong and fall in love with it and become so obsessed that I forget all other video games, eschew all personal hygiene and life responsibilities, and forego sleep until I finish it like a true Persona fan, but I don't think so. (Although I loved P3, and P4. I am curious after reading the opinions here whether I'll think the P5 characters and plot will live up to the former games)

@Th3solution I'd actually say play it on hard, on normal it is a cakewalk and basically beats itself. The combat system is solid but EXTREMELY dated, so you might want to really have your decision have a strategic impact and high stakes to make it pop and come alive imho.

Good to know that the final boss let me win on my first go.

One shotted by the casino boss last night on her final form. Open mouthed after a great battle I switched off persona 5. I have been so unlucky this run with 5/6 one shot deaths to the main character, I just don't understand why I cant revive him. Grrrrrr.

@themcnoisy Whoooooaaa! Looking good, Joker!

@kyleforrester87 haha, beat that boss this afternoon in the end.

Then sat through over an hour of nonesense which was fun but flawed.

Spoiler territory!
Dont get me wrong I clicked what Fatuba was doing with the phone at the time although I totally missed the doughnut morgana thing. But blanks in the main characters memory left me shaking my head. I didnt piece anything together and it seemed like a strange coming together tbh, the convesation with sae was confusing as hell prior to being left alone in the cell. I thought the overall bad guy was that person, directing the group to act in certain ways leading up to the casino etc. It was good, enjoyable but ultimately a let down and the big reveal was a bunch of mcguffins which had replaced sense.

SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS

@themcnoisy I saw the pancake thing coming tbh! But I wasn't too keen on how they selectively removed pieces of narration just to show them to you later so you would be surprised, it's a weird story-telling device in a game that lets you see every single moment. All in all I felt the big reveal was enjoyable, especially how detailed it was but also really contrived... and they took too much time to explain it. You could feel the screenplayets struggling to come up with something quirky.

Ugh I feel like I am always complaining about this game but seriously I really really liked it, I just find incredibly strange how a lot of people seem to consider it flawless, a masterpiece etc.

SPOILERS END

@Feena "selectively removed pieces of narration just to show them to you later so you would be surprised"

Yeah it was weird and It didn't surprise me at all. I was confused, like did I skip these scenes?

Maybe similar to what happened to Makotos sister, keeping information from her, the team could have done the same with the protagonist with maybe Ryugi (as he hates the bad guy) scheming with Makoto after findong something on the police harddrive but Makoto still wanted to save her sister, which would lend credibility to leaving the protagonist in the dark..... That would have been way better and more coherent.

Oh well, im gonna sneak in a couple of hours tomorrow and see how far that gets me. Not long now!

Im upto the 2nd of December with 13 or 14 days remaining until the election or something (next palace deadline). Ive hit mementos to get to the bottom, par the first obligation to get the true ending. Ive saved in one of the shelters to come back later and finish.

Anyway my question is, should I hit the palace the next day or can I wait a few more days as Ive nearly maxed Futaba? Ive already spent a good few days messing around and hit the computer game trophy. But Im worried there could be a hard ceiling on the date I should finish it by rather than the one thats set ie) I have to return to the real world at some point then return.

@themcnoisy I always got the palace bosses out of the way quickly so I didn't have to worry about it when building up my social links but I suppose it doesn't matter either way. I can't recall if the last palace is the same in that regard.
I still need that Golden Finger trophy (beating the video games) because I just couldn't do the last stage on Power Intuition. Grrrrr.

@ApostateMage yeah that was a rubbish level. I used the game book on that stage luckily. Id maxed proficiency whilst playing power intuition level 2 so didnt need the additional proficiency points. That was way lucky, It gives you 15 seconds to hit the commands.

Rather than pressing the inputs like a rhythm action game put the action in your head and do it quickly. I messed it up twice but did it on my 3rd try within the 15 seconds.

That "special move" i put was annoying! I read those inputs as the Haoh Shoukou Ken from Art of Fighting / King of fighters then I realised it wan't like it - grrrr made me lose an evening on the first play trough.

@Feena Art of Fighting / King of fighters

Off topic but on seeing a load of neogeo fighting games on the store which one should I give a go? They are all cheap but as theres like 20 of them ive never bought one. Too much choice.

Onto P5 and Ive got as far as I can in mementos and maxed out kuzuke and fatuba. Got my team ready for the cruiser!

Does anyone have tips for the homerun mini game trophy, i suck at that.

@themcnoisy I aimed on the bottom half of where the ball would be thrown so I could get some height to it. That and a bit of luck. It was a cakewalk compared to that bloody fighting game.

@themcnoisy As a Streets of Rage fan, you would probably like the Sengoku games quite a bit.

@themcnoisy I'd wait for the King of fighters 98 to be ported (it has already been rated!) if you want it on ps4 - that is the best SNK fighting game imho.

Yeah aim for the lower part of the ball for the homer thing!

@KratosMD happy questing, you're in for a long ride

I read data miners found some unused Persona 3 assets (as the Iwatodai dorm) in P5, I am starting to belive those P3 remake rumors...