The problem is that I only want to hang out with Tae and it took me until late May to get the courage. The heck, game.
I have yet to fail any negotiations because I know about demons ya’ll
Whenever I play Persona I end up in better shape because anytime I get a (now) confidant or level up I put the controller down and do some sort of exercise. There are so many natural pauses in the gameplay that allow this and I look and feel better.
Especially since ideally this is a game you play out over months. Thats my plan. Gonna savor this Personi
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I know it's easy to just write off thematic faults as standard cringeworthy anime writing paired with a mediocre localization and Atlus's poor track record regarding this, but
I keep waiting for more than a handful of comments in a handful of places to acknowledge how the game blatantly snaps itself to thematic pieces. Explicitly targeting sexually-abusive authorities who survive through abusing social systems only to have the camera and protagonists perpetuate that by sexually harassing (Anne) and manipulating (Temperance / Ms. Kawakami) their victims is hot garbage.
I mean, I know there’s never really been any real hope for the writing in that track record, with Persona 4’s own self-dissolving status quo addiction and the “only male protagonists make sense for SMT narratives outside of P3’s sacrifice theme” proclamation and
(and so on and so forth with a list that stretches from Devil Survivor 2’s “peep on girls in a medical examination during the apocalypse” to IV’s non-characterization of Isabeau as the main female presence)
but it’s so rare for people to recognize and… care much on the recent dire faults of this formerly-esoteric, ostensibly-countercultural, and undeniably prominent series. grumble, grumble.
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I try and do this with games that have long loading times or idling segments, but don’t really end up that active.
Your idea for Level Ups or Rank Ups is awesome though, might just fit better! 
I uh, am enjoying the game (sort of) thus far. It’s much too soon, obviously, to render a verdict but I have been disappointed with the game’s aesthetic compared to P4. For some reason, the juxtaposition of the isolation of the rural setting and the goofy anime really was unsettling to me. I think it was a unique look and gave the game a heightened sense of horror, which works for me because I’m a fan of the genre. However, P5 being set in Tokyo doesn’t really make it stand out, which is probably a big part of the reason it’s been universally embraced by the internet now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a good time because nothing quite feels like a Persona game, but I can’t help but think it now fits in too well with the recent glut of JRPG’s set in Tokyo, and maybe that hurts it a little bit. Then again, I have 95 more hours to play, so yea.
those exact observations and quote have actually come up a lot in the discord I hang at. come ruin diplo’s life with even more talk of persona survivor’s guilt
Another stray comparison: persona 3/4 had a third person narrator’s voice substituting for first-person thought bubble type stuff. P5 just goes with the latter… it seems like a deliberate choice and I miss it. It seems less kind. P5 is, on the whole, less kind.
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This is not endorsing it, but I think just the way modern japanese society forms salarymen that them being unable to have a non-sexual relationship with a woman completely tracks?
I mean authorial intent is completely bullshit but if Persona is a reflection of their own experiences, then the dialog should be directly confronting the creators?
I’m mostly reitterating what you are saying, because I agree with it.
I am getting kind of sick of Morgana’s Jimmy Cricketing.
I kinda preferred Persona more when it was less about the bad person and more how the system enables the bad person. I guess that’s to be expected, small scales for small stories (dunno if it becomes a big save the world thing later and ends up contradicting its goals, though past Persona games all do this).
Still, can’t help but think the game’s ridiculously slick for what it is. Proves how powerful style can be.
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I think with the Persona games (and a lot of games in general), it’s less of an authorial intent problem than one of authorial limitations.
There’s too many days where you’re arbitrarily forced to go to bed early. Like God damn man I can do some pullups in my bedroom before bed it’s no big deal
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uh oh man i am loving this game very much, i am pretty deep and it is still relentless about revealing adorable new mechanics
also wow it seems like it could be very very long
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I felt like I breezed through the second dungeon but the boss was no joke
I checked How Long to Beat the other day and it said 108 hours at the time. I believe it.
Got this yesterday and got through the first palace. I knew the tone of the game was going to be much more serious ahead of time but I didn’t expect them to hit you in the face with it right from the start. I also think they’re leaning on the “adults are morally bankrupt” angle a little too heavily, although given the theme of teen rebellion, I shouldn’t be surprised I guess.
(also adding 1 point to the tae is bae counter)
yeah as usual with persona i binge-played this for a week and burned out hard
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Is there an in-game unit of time that you’d ration it by?
Traditionally I’ve paced it out to an in-game month every week?
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Possibly because P3 and P4 are two of my favorite games, I’ve been having a harder time sinking my teeth into this one. My defenses are kind of up. But both the mechanics and the narrative are beginning to groove with me more and more, about 6 hours in. Initially, the hyperactive pop baroque aesthetic was kind of jarring and off-putting (the zig-zaggy gray letterboxing maybe being the most inexplicable and worst offender), but it’s grown on me.
The game’s just barely let me start making choices, but I’ve been baffled by the level of handholding. Why not let me buy a soda on my way to school? And most inexplicably, why can’t I go downstairs to the bottom floor of this closed cafe and just chill out in the booth down there? I’m too tired to walk down the stairs?
you can’t do anything fun because it’s meant to symbolize that you’re a prisoner of society
Nah but seriously, it does feel like they loosen the leash much more slowly and gradually than past games. Around the time the first palace’s story is resolved, you’re given much more freedom to do stuff, and I think about nine hours in, you’re given access to the bulk of the non-palace areas in the game.
I could be wrong though because I’m only nine hours into the game.
I hate that the cat keeps telling me I’m not a crepe kind of guy.
You don’t know me, gato…
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