I hate to be "that guy", but I'm (unfortunately) one of the few people that found Persona 5 all round uninspiring, and also fairly insulting in it's condescending narrative.
It maybe due to the fact i'm 38 and approaching middle age, and trying to relate to the characters in Persona 5 was at best , trying, and at worse, irritating. And yet I never found that in the Trails Of Cold Steel series, which was also a school sim.
However, that's not what bothered me most about Persona. It was the heavily condescending narrative that was constantly rammed down your throat. I appreciate this game is designed for school kids, and maybe young adults, so, if their intent was to completely bypass a more mature audience, then my point may as well be left where it lies.
It was the notion that each of the characters that you had to infiltrate were obnoxiously obvious evils, and the whole premise felt like it was an education on life for the uninitiated. Often, it was constantly reiterated why X person was bad, and what we should learn from this type of behaviour, and why it's toxic/wrong/immoral and so on and so forth. Personally, i felt it insulted my intelligence, because these stereotyped bad guys who were so painfully obvious in terms of why they were evil, and yet it seemed necessary to be slowly narrated down to the player in a manner which came across as if I required education in this department, and was a replacement for the "Why not to be an evil a**hole" book, which is currently out of stock (for obvious reasons).
I get that the game is well received, and artistically, mechanically and designed exceptionally well, but the narrative I just couldn't stomach.
The game's Central Theme is a big one. In Western cultures (particularly America), "stand up to corrupt authority rather than blindly following it" comes across as a Captain Obvious Aesop, but it's extremely relevant (and actually quite radical) for Japan. Respect for social superiors is heavily ingrained into the culture, to the point of being hard-wired into the language itself. All of the Phantom Thieves' targets are in positions that Japanese society demands respect from, which is why they got away with their actions for so long.
The above quote @Grindagger is pulled from TV Tropes regarding Persona 5, in particular the "Values Dissonance" section... I can't remember where I heard it before but I recall hearing at some point that the game's narrative was daring for japan at least.
... I didn't like it either much like yourself though for a number of reasons you said (I don't particularly like the soundtrack much either, just not my cup of tea).
I thought the narrative was better in the previous persona games myself (Especially the third which was also my first and my favourite)
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy That makes more sense, although having vistited Japan myself, and also being an avid player of JRPG games over the years, It felt like Persona 5 was a step down from other Japanese based narratives that didn't in anyway feel condescending.
It might well of been a failure of localization in that the premise was designed to be impersonal, and to the point, as opposed to portrayed in a manner of "teaching", or maybe it was just construed that way because whoever was localizing it thought it would go well with the school kid narrative.
@Grindagger I think the point is that their backstory is irrelevant. What they're doing is unacceptable, and people like this aren't tragic stories at the end of the day, their monsters. Well written villains often have a backstory that makes them feel understandable, or that it's not entirely their fault how they ended up. Persona 5 goes with the idea that it's your choice regardless, and you'll notice there are villains where it makes sense as to how they ended up where they are. They probably have more of their backstory written out, but they only included a small summary to not make a point out of it. It also shows that anyone has the ability to confess, to try and atone for what they've done. Gaining the ability to stand up properly has some morally grey area, but you rationalizing that the world is just a certain is the wrong viewpoint is also shown.
Persona 5 Royal is great. I've done four dungeons. There doesn't seem to much new in it so far - although there might be, who can remember? - but it does seem easier this time to rank up social links as I've got a lot of them nearly done. The extra time is much appreciated so I get less anxiety about how I'm spending my time.
@KratosMD T the point of the game you are in I’d say go for Merciless difficulty as it gives you higher damage input on enemies if you have their weak elements. At this point you should for sure at least have considered leveling up strength and sun confidant to obtain personas higher level than urs and got a grasp of the fusing mechanic. But if you aren’t playing p5 for the challenge I’d say just go for hard as after 4th palace on normal will be a breeze
@KratosMD I'm playing it on Hard from the very beginning and the only difficult thing to me is to give personas the right answers once they are KO.
Whish I could not see enemies on the minimap...
@KratosMD You can change the difficulty of your game even after progressing, but you can’t change it if you chose Safety mode. To change the difficulty, go to “System,” then select “CONFIG” on the menu screen. The difficulty you choose does not affect the game’s story.
@KratosMD This is my first Persona and I'm playing blind so I may miss many little things, but I prefer to go this way. I only wonder what I have to do to play the third semester and how to unlock the confidant in the weapon shop: he told me to talk at night, but I can use the Le Blanc phone only to call the maid. Can you help me without spoiling? Thanks!
@KratosMD Ops! I'm in August, waiting for Futaba to wake up, and I'm only around level 3 and 4 with the 3 confidants you mentioned...
I already have level 4 Guts and I'm quite sure I can leave the pub during the night, but I don't remember how!
@KratosMD I do leave the café at night and I have 20 confidants at the moment. I'll focus on those 3 now, but I don't know why I had to visit the weapons guy like 3 or 4 times before he became a confidant...
Thanks for answering! And I swear I'm not that bad at this game! 😂
@KratosMD Kasumi’s social ranks become 10 later on. Also, I didn’t answer the first text she sent me because I was trying to grind someone else out, and haven’t had another chance for a long time. Did I screw up? Or do I need to be patient. I just got finished the 3rd palace and now I’m waiting for the timer to run out before I get the next palace.
@KratosMD Gotcha, so it wasn’t me missing a chance (well, not one that affects later chances) and that’s why. I’ve been worried lol. Next time I’ll scoop it up immediately.
Anyone?
For the first time I'm stuck: 5th palace boss. The 4th or 5th wave of robots keeps running away before I can kill them all at once. I lowered the difficulty to Normal but that didn't help. I know their weakness but they sometimes run away even if all of them have almost all their HP.
What am I missing?
@andreoni79 You can use items to hit a weakness with the character who couldn’t normally hit it. Build up a powerful batten pass and then hit them all twice with a powerful multi enemy attack that hits their weakness. If that fails reduce the difficulty.
@KratosMD I maxed out the twins in Persona 5 vanilla and forgot to get their item on the last day which is why I haven’t done New Game Plus. Hopefully I won’t be that stupid when I get round to Royal.
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