Persona 5

I have found Persona 5 Royal to be more forgiving than the original in regards to time management. I was able to get all my social stats to maximum by November. I've been able to maximize the confidants I've been interested in, and once I finished the Palace in December, I had a ton of time to level other confidants.

There is one confidant you have to maximize by November, but they signpost that really well.

I’ve taken the plunge and bought Royal. It sounds like the tweeks and improvements are very significant and I don’t think I’m going to have time to play the game more than once. From the little I’ve played of the standard version I can see me being into it. If feels so fresh and different from what I usually play and so stylish with it.

I finished the final boss of the original game tonight. Playing on Easy, It’s the first time I had to use SP items. I was never really in danger of losing, but the health pool was so big it was quite the slog. Now I’m in January getting introduced to the new weirdness. I’m going to take a break. Overall, I’ve had a good time, but the game is too long, and I burned out in December.

I don’t know if anyone else has played the third semester, but as it begins, I’m less interested in continuing.

Spoiler:

I managed not to be spoiled about Akechi, but he was always sketchy to me. I only hung out with him enough to unlock the jazz club. Now the game is throwing us together. He doesn’t even feel like worthy adversary, which is the only way this trope works. Also, Kasumi clearly has a crush on Joker, and I have no interest in breaking up with my best girl, Makoto. Again, it feels like the game is throwing her at me.

It's that time again where I shamelessly pimp my garbage. If you'll be traveling for the holidays or working during the merry season, my buddy and I got a podcast on Persona 5 Royal to keep you warm.

Strikers PS4 version at Best Buy now has steelbook!

May have to pre-order after all.

What is Persona 5 Strikers? I can't tell from this trailer. It seems like a Musou but then it also seems to have side scrolling, etc.

Persona 5 Strikers - All-Out-Action Trailer - Nintendo Switch

I dont know either... but Id just wait for P6

It's a musou game, but looks like they tried to implement some additional areas to replicate the "heist" element of the original game. So, mostly hack-and-slash with the occasional not-hack-and-slash for variation.

Really liking the soundtrack remixes in there.

This video offers some details about the combat and doesn't spoil any plot points:

FISTS OF JUSTICE! I am so hyped.

This is a really good, thoughtful review, and it sounds like P5 Strikers will be great on Switch. I'm going to get it on PS4, though, so that I don't have to compete with my wife if she wants to play Fire Emblem Three Houses.

IMAGE(https://media1.giphy.com/media/YP2HqPBbtQVSU2DFKt/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47cjw3o43fas1dvhh1l3d3hpwrw7qrafrtgrcaahwl&rid=giphy.gif)

I'm leaning PS4/5 still after seeing those load time videos. But with current backlog I'm going to wait a bit.

I never finished Fire Emblem or Hyrule Warriors games so that's a factor too.

Persona 5 Strikers Review "Buy, Wait for Sale, Rent, Never Touch?"

farley3k wrote:

Persona 5 Strikers Review "Buy, Wait for Sale, Rent, Never Touch?"

And the queer community immediately has a new meme.

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/SJhZMTY/Queen-Devastating.jpg)

I doubt it. The queer community doesn't have much nice to say about the Persona series.

Speaking of which, any word on if P5 Strikers is as homophobic or transphobic as usual?

It's here, y'all! Who else is playing?

In case there was any question that this is a full-fledged Persona game, the first three hours are chock full of expository dialogue, with minimal time inside the Palace Jail.

I played the first hour-and-a-half, and it's feeling pretty good already. It doesn't immediately jump out as a musou game since each combat is sort of isolated at the moment, rather than being large sprawling battlefields. Granted, I've not done much yet either.

I'm really digging the combat remixes though.

Anyone playing on a Switch Lite? So many games don't translate well to the small screen but it is so nice to be able to play anywhere.

Persona 5 Strikers - Easy Allies Review

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Speaking of which, any word on if P5 Strikers is as homophobic or transphobic as usual?

Still hoping for an answer to this one. Anyone seen anything?

ClockworkHouse wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Speaking of which, any word on if P5 Strikers is as homophobic or transphobic as usual?

Still hoping for an answer to this one. Anyone seen anything?

I haven't been following media about it, but I have played the first few hours.

Nothing so far that's directly homophobic or transphobic, but I'm about halfway through investigating the first dungeon boss, and the setup is playing dangerously with various misogynist tropes in a way that has my eyebrows raised for sure. From my experience of how they handle such risky setups in Persona 3, 5, and the first couple dungeons of the original release of 4, it's certainly possible that they'll find a way to turn those tropes on their head in a way that might have something to say -- but it's just as likely that it will faceplant miserably.

We shall see what happens when the situation is resolved, but just the nature of the setup doesn't give me confidence that they've grown more capable (or even interested) in dealing with challenging ideas well. So, I'd definitely recommend continuing to wait until folks you trust have something to say about it before diving in if you don't feel like navigating the waters blind (not to mention giving your financial support to developers who don't have the best of records).

Thanks, zero!

Likewise, I'm in a similar spot. And I haven't see anything directly homophobic or transphobic yet, either. But, I know that my antenna for it's not the most finely tuned.

Also, I'm not sure how well the first few hours of P5 Strikers will make a good test. From my experience with P5, I didn't find it to be a constant thing. Rather, it seemed to pop up at odd times, like those guys who showed up from time to time and would come on to Ryuji, drawing a very strong negative reaction from him. I imagine the content is something like homophobic behavior played for laughs, it'll show up seemingly out of the blue, deeper into the game.

I'm about midway through the second Jail, and like ccesarano, am really digging the combat remixes. Blooming Villain -- one of my favorites -- and Last Surprise are just great. And love the battle music that plays over the tutorial:

Daredevil:

Just finished the third Jail, and landed in

Spoiler:

Okinawa

And I have to say ...

Spoiler:

I absolutely adored the scene with Akane -- the Phantom Thief streamer! Loved the merch all over her bedroom.

Looks like Strikers is down to $40 at Best Buy, both versions.

Rolled credits last night! Overall, a really fun game, and I'm glad I played it.

The graphics were every bit as stylish, and had as much swagger, as the original. The new Showtime animations - each character's big splashy special - felt great, every time. The soundtrack was amazing -- the new songs killed, and I loved the remixes of old favorites, especially Last Surprise and Blooming Villain. The game was also really smart about when and how they were deployed. Blooming Villain was often, but not always, the boss track. Once or twice, Rivers in the Desert would pop up instead, or the game would give you a brand new boss track. Last Surprise often would play over a sub-boss or a particularly difficult "random encounter."

The musuo gameplay combined really well with both the SMT focus on targeting weaknesses, and also with the P5 baton pass / one more mechanic. You can easily, and quickly, toggle between active party members with a tap of the D pad, and they all bring something a little different to the fight.

Story-wise, the game is much more linear, and less of a slow burn, than P5. It took me about 45 hours to finish, and I did most every side quest as it came up. There's no calendar management at all: you can enter and leave the metaverse freely, there are no social links, and I can only think of two occasions where there is any real choice about what to do with your free time. The feeling of building your character over time, throughout a school year, is totally gone.

The writers really seemed to enjoy that the characters already were fleshed out, and that it can take a certain degree of audience knowledge for granted. From the beginning, I think the game very effectively sells a group of friends reuniting after several months apart, and also sells this group as a bunch of late-teens who are still trying to figure out what they want from life.

The overall plot, about Monarchs and Jails, felt on point for P5, but also a bit weird. The party would compare the new events in the Metaverse to what they dealt with last year -- but, especially at the beginning, often would stress how the Jails were different and they didn't fully understand what was going on. This struck me as odd, because "what's going on" was pretty obvious to a player with prior knowledge of P5 (spoilers for the ends of both games):

Spoiler:

The idea of a program that allows others to steal desires, and essentially take another's free will, tracked very closely with the Depths of Mementos / battle against Yaldabaoth. And, if that connection wasn't clear enough, it became obvious when I hit the first Trauma Cell: the arena inside looks a LOT like the chamber where the Phantom Thieves fought the Holy Grail. But the party does not comment on this at all until just past the big "point of no return," when the game throws you into a dungeon (the Abyss) that essentially looks like the Depths of Mementos, and then -- again -- the Metaverse starts encroaching on reality.

At first, I thought this was because the game was trying to avoid spoiling the original P5. But I don't think that's a fully adequate explanation, because the game's very comfortable with not explaining much from the original. Like in the Abyss, Yusuke comments that the Ark chamber looks just like where you fought the Holy Grail, but then no one says anything about what the Holy Grail was, or why you fought it. Elsewhere, when the game reveals Diet Member Owada as a guy behind the scenes, he's explicitly identified as a former ally of Shido. The party reacts to this, but again, no explanation of who Shido was, or why he was important. And you never even fight Owada; he's just introduced as a foil for Zenkichi, to show that someone in the government is supporting Madicce, and corrupting the police force.

I didn't mind the lack of plot references to P5, as it helped this game's plot feel like it stood on its own. But at times it was just weird that the Phantom Thieves didn't have a better theory, earlier, of what was going on.

I actually picked the game back up the other day after... not having played it at all in March. My first three-hours in February was actually a bit negative for me, and my first impression returning wasn't all that positive as well. I had to adjust to some of the different types of mechanics (leveling Personas up in the Velvet Room explained why I seemed to be having such a tough time for a while there), but I also had to learn to play it differently than Persona 5.

As you noted, there's no limit to how often you can leave and enter a dungeon, so every time you hit a checkpoint you may as well exit and come back to recharge your SP, which drops at an alarming rate compared to how often they seem to want you to use those abilities. Early on, at least. I was also hesitant to use Auto-Recover as I assumed it would use my supply of healing items, until I realized it just... heals everyone for free? It never seemed as if my healing items were depleted, so it makes me wonder why the game doesn't just heal everyone after each fight if it's got a free option right there.

I was also shocked that the first dungeon plus aftermath cut-scenes took roughly 7 hours. I'm ready to start heading into the next chapter, but it left me wondering if the game was going to be another 80-100 hours of my life. Did I take abnormally long for that first chapter? Or are there just fewer Jails than there are Palaces?

I definitely ended up having a better time once I got into the flow of things, however. I'm just startled that, despite how much the Persona blend of mechanics differentiates this game from other Musou types, I kind of wish I spent the money on Age of Calamity instead. On the other hand, I'm really enjoying the flash and pizzazz of Persona 5 again, and while the characters never felt truly developed in the original game (I mean, sort of, but also not?), it's nice to be back together with them.

Auto Recovery uses some SP from characters who have Dia-type spells, the same as it did in P5

Ah! That explains a lot.

Currently saving up for the bond that allows me to recover HP and SP after every battle. That seems like it'll be one of the most useful abilities, unless it only recovers something like 10%.