Persona 5 (2016)

One thing I really appreciate about Persona 5 is just how dang cheap and accessible it is. And that's true of a lot of modern Sega-published games, actually.

You can buy Persona 5 for as little as $5 brand new in Canada from PNP Games. For a 100+ hour RPG with really strong social themes that's actually good by most accounts, having a game of that quality and that length for so cheap is just a win for everyone.

I will never play Persona 5. It's too long, and I don't especially like modern SMT games. But I do think it's really, really cool that, while some publishers choose to make their games obnoxiously expensive (hi Nintendo!), you still have some publishers taking the success of their games and flipping that into making them accessible to gamers. That honestly rules.

The first time I tried to play this game, it took me 4 hours to realize that it was going to be a long, long, long game without too much action front-loaded into it. It felt really weird and corny, and I wasn't willing to spend the time to get into it or get invested into the characters.

The second time I tried to play this game, it took me 10 hours before I realized how special this game is. I got sucked into the world, the characters, the day-to-day things you do to chill or "better yourself" (game-wise, at least). The concept behind the game ("phantom thieves") is weirdly original, and I was all for it by the time I got to the 2nd or 3rd dungeon. By the end of the game I was playing the "world will change" theme on repeat since I was so into it.

I will also so that the gameplay is really, really fun for an RPG! I hate random encounters, I hate turn-based battles. But P5 gives the player the option to battle enemies, or even ambush them for a significant upper hand in battle. I felt like this stealth mechanic actually drew me into more random encounters because I love sneaking around. Besides that, the battles themselves are super high energy and animated, and really fun to play, even if it's a turn-based battle. The battle soundtracks (normal, mini-boss, and boss) are just absolute bangers for video game music. I always felt super bad-ass going into a difficult fight.

The dating sim component of this game was also really fun. I've never, ever played a dating sim before but having the characters be so likable really made it a part of the game I didn't expect to enjoy.

For things I didn't like, I will say that it is a significant investment to play, and you'd need at least 10-20 hours of gameplay before you start getting absolutely hooked. And even after that, it takes another 60-80 hours to finish the game... and this is just for P5 vanilla, not Royal. I will also say some boss battles feel gimmicky / too easy to me, and I don't like you can get an immediate game over if Joker dies (even if the other party members are still alive). I also don't like how you have to leave a dungeon to reload bullets - this actually made me want to use guns less in battle, unless I knew they were going to be crits on the enemy. (This is my first Atlus game, so maybe that's just the mechanics of the series that I just need to get used to.)

I'm normally not into JRPGs, but this game is just something else. I was super sad when the game was over (I really didn't want it to end), and there are very, very few games where I actually felt this way. So kudos, P5, for making me feel something so deep and special, in a way not many other games can.

(I'm rating this 4/5 instead of 5/5 because I'm going to play P5R once some time passes, and I'm expecting that the QOL improvements in that game + the additional content will bump the rating of that game up to a 5, but we'll see after I actually play it.)

I've dusted off my Persona 5 save file after a long hiatus. I'm well past 110 hours and would like to conclude the adventure. I started Persona 5 in Fall, 2018 and played in obsessive bursts.

I've loved every minute but these epic adventures don't fit into my life like they used to. :(

I'm in need of a cleaner head-space on my gaming to-do list.

A Series of My Favorite Video Game Songs with Lyrics

3. Last Surprise

I bet you end up hearing this song five hundred times in this game. There are 10 dungeons (Some are palaces and some have other names) in this game and I bet you average around 50 battles per dungeon. Especially with Mementos in the mix. Any song you hear 500 times ends up in either your "favorites" or "most hated" lists. The things you love or hate become more and more prominent and you eventually have strong feelings toward a song you've heard that much.

For instance, I hate the song "Hey There Delilah". It was played about 3-4 times everyday the year in high school I worked at Jamba Juice. The Plain White Ts can sniff my farts for eternity.

But "Last Surprise"? You'll never see it coming to the top of your best video game tracks with lyrics list, but suddenly it's there.

I know I went on and on about music psychology there, but just one little added note I love about Last Surprise- The chorus is timed out so it hits basically everytime you start to do a group attack in the second round. It really makes Showtime (what the group attacks are called) feel victorious.

I can't believe I'm actually playing this game. It's had completion time armor for years, but to be honest, absolutely nothing has been ringing my bell lately. I got into some new hobbies so I've taken a step back from gaming for the most part, but something about this game just makes me keep thinking about it.

It's also the first Atlus game that I've really gotten into since Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan (on the 3DS -- which I never finished because I hated the combat system). These games have so much damn depth but I sure do love the mixture of normal life + dungeon running. Very very cool game and I finally understand the appeal of Persona!