The moment you realize you don't get all the digital deluxe goodies even though you bought the limited edition.
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Persona 5 Royal import thread
- Thread starter HylianSeven
- Start date
Watched some of the Christmas Eve date clips on youtube and between this and Dancing Starlight, I'm getting the feeling that even Atlus is getting on board shipping Joker with Makoto. lol
At first I came into this thread thinking "okay, I'll look at a couple spoilers just to test my interest level, because based on what they've shown I'm kinda hyped for this, especially Kasumi!" ...Then as things started to look bad and worse and worse and after several pages of clicking every spoiler warning I've fallen quickly into "I saved myself $60" territory.
I'm most pissed about the apparent lack of changes in the base game 2 semesters. From the time this was announced we were told that bringing over save data was totally not possible because things were all new and different with a changed experience and blah blah blah! But no, apparently they could easily have let you carry over social stats and your persona collection and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. As a result, I almost feel like I'd be punished as forced to play the base game from scratch all over again instead of using the time to try different things or have new experiences.
Atlus didn't even sell P3FES at full retail price, lol. That was $40.
I'm most pissed about the apparent lack of changes in the base game 2 semesters. From the time this was announced we were told that bringing over save data was totally not possible because things were all new and different with a changed experience and blah blah blah! But no, apparently they could easily have let you carry over social stats and your persona collection and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. As a result, I almost feel like I'd be punished as forced to play the base game from scratch all over again instead of using the time to try different things or have new experiences.
Atlus didn't even sell P3FES at full retail price, lol. That was $40.
Some more things I've noted as I'm progressing (I'm at the end of Madarame Palace and just have to do the boss for it; end of May)—mostly gameplay related stuff.
Personally, I would recommend waiting for a price drop if you're not looking to immediately play it. I agree it could have been locked to a NG+ DLC (similar to how FFXV implemented their changes over time, where main-campaign changes didn't take effect until starting a new game), not just a straight "load your file and do the new stuff" because of how it's integrated. But that's not how Atlus went about it, so unless you're really into the new content and/or gameplay changes, it's probably not going to be worth the money. For me, it's been a fun romp so far and I don't regret it, but I also just march to the beat of my own gaming drum and just do whatever I feel like anyway.
- Morgana is indeed much less strict about telling you to go bed. Even after doing Palace exploration, you can do activities that are within Leblanc (I've been using it to barrel through the book reading for the social stat boosts, but you can also craft—I haven't tested making coffee or working out). It's a lot less strict, there have only been a couple of days where I've been sent straight to bed.
- Madarame Palace had significantly more changes to it than Kamoshida's, and I liked them. Usually they're small puzzled to accommodate finding where the Ishii is, but in doing so, they have made some areas actually have a stronger feeling of it being a "heist" of sorts.
- Some Persona arcana/abilities have changed. I noticed this with Shiisa, which is now Strength instead of Chariot and has Frei by defaul (so yes, some of the twins' confidant requirements are different.
they ask for an Ame no Uzume with Frei now in it's place.
- If you accept part-time jobs, they can send texts saying they're short-handed and ask you to come in for a higher pay rate (plus whatever stats you get from it). I haven't tested this yet to see if it's worth it in place of something else.
- Days for Bathhouse charm boosts are different now; the Diner is also not available from the start of the game and opens up in May.
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I think the integration of Maruki into the main plotline and his confidant both are handled pretty well and adds some interesting perspective and foreshadowing to where his plot is going. I haven't seen enough of Kasumi yet to judge that part of the added content.
- Completely incidental, but I like the addition of seeing Confidants just around. Sometimes they're walking behind you on the way to school, are milling about in various places, or are seen on the subway platform when you're talking to the Phantom Thieves before school.
Personally, I would recommend waiting for a price drop if you're not looking to immediately play it. I agree it could have been locked to a NG+ DLC (similar to how FFXV implemented their changes over time, where main-campaign changes didn't take effect until starting a new game), not just a straight "load your file and do the new stuff" because of how it's integrated. But that's not how Atlus went about it, so unless you're really into the new content and/or gameplay changes, it's probably not going to be worth the money. For me, it's been a fun romp so far and I don't regret it, but I also just march to the beat of my own gaming drum and just do whatever I feel like anyway.
Looks increasingly like 1/3 Remaster + 1/3 Remake + 1/3 Expansion.
Perhaps the critical opinion of many players after first impressions stems from the fact that they didn't get much of what they were looking for. I haven't heard of anyone asking for a remaster especially with PS5 coming out soon (a remaster for PS5 capabilities might have been better), so the value of this change is probably limited. Fans of the original story have to be resold a product with changes that may or may not be to their fancy, while critical players like me wanted more of a remake with an overhaul in the writing. Still others were hoping for a new experience in an expanded section, but the extra content didn't seem to be particularly significant compared to P4G.
Feels like the original game - trying to have a bit of everything for everyone, but loses focus in the process.
How do the improvements of this game look to compare to other re-releases? I wasn't a fan of The Answer so I just ended up watching the cutscenes for it, but how does Royal and it's improvements (?) stack up againt the P3: FES release?
I don't know they really lean in on Kasumi. Her showtime attack is REALLY shippy.
I originally posted just the Showtime before I realized it was a spoiler but seriously just look it up.
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I was hyped but eh... not anymore.
I guess I'll just watch the third semester and the ending on YouTube..
I guess I'll just watch the third semester and the ending on YouTube..
I think it's better than how FES handled it, personally. There's more new content and more significant updates to the gameplay that P3>P3FES had, and the content for the new semester is, at the very least, integrated throughout the main P5 campaign with the inclusion of the new characters. There are things as early as May that foreshadow what's to come with the new content, which means that at the very least... it doesn't just smack you in the face as a total surprise. In that sense, I think it's actually closer to P4G (though P4G probably had more significant story changes surrounding just the IT as opposed to the PTs; and the gameplay changes were done in a totally different way). I'm not actually done my own playthrough of the game but I'm caught up on the spoilers/ending to say that I think it's significantly better in a lot of respects, even if I personally am not a fan of some of the narrative choices the new content in P5R is making.
I gotta say regarding Kasumi.
I really like that she gets both a 2nd and 3rd tier Persona. It's just that little extra bit that makes her feel like a fully fleshed out party member even if you pretty much have to go out of your way to use her 2nd before getting her third.
So I'm playing this because none of the other notable November releases were really hooking me as day one purchases and there's so much else I want to play in 2020 that it was pretty much a "if I don't play this now I'll never play it" situation with this game. I haven't really read up extensively on this and I kinda avoided a lot of this thread because it basically turned into a spoiler thread lol, so I'm sorta going in blind. My playthrough of the original was largely a main campaign playthrough and I skipped or missed a lot of stuff, but I found a nice Japanese wiki site that's covering this and pointing out new stuff so I can be aware of everything as it comes along.
Haven't finished Kamoshida's dungeon yet (forgot that just getting up to the point where you can actually go through it takes ages if you're reading through dialogue and stuff) but my thoughts so far:
- I kinda like the original opening more.
- The new Title Menu has more flair but I liked that the original had a "live menu" that updated as you progressed through the story.
- Playing on a Pro and 4K TV and the IQ boost is quite significant! This art style cleans up very well.
- Load times have improved a lot.
- Some of the particularly bad textures seem to have been redone? Booted up the original to compare a little, and the train station areas look a lot better, the sign textures used to be really bad and illegible. That was the worst by far that I can recall, so I don't know if they bothered with anything else, or the improvement isn't drastic enough for me to immediately notice.
- I didn't like that guns had limited ammo in the original (IIRC you had to leave to restore it?), making it per-battle seems like a good move and might balance out harder difficulties a little.
- Hearing it in the context of the game, the new battle theme feels a bit more like a battle theme than Last Surprise to me.
- The end battle results being condensed is nice to have.
Haven't finished Kamoshida's dungeon yet (forgot that just getting up to the point where you can actually go through it takes ages if you're reading through dialogue and stuff) but my thoughts so far:
- I kinda like the original opening more.
- The new Title Menu has more flair but I liked that the original had a "live menu" that updated as you progressed through the story.
- Playing on a Pro and 4K TV and the IQ boost is quite significant! This art style cleans up very well.
- Load times have improved a lot.
- Some of the particularly bad textures seem to have been redone? Booted up the original to compare a little, and the train station areas look a lot better, the sign textures used to be really bad and illegible. That was the worst by far that I can recall, so I don't know if they bothered with anything else, or the improvement isn't drastic enough for me to immediately notice.
- I didn't like that guns had limited ammo in the original (IIRC you had to leave to restore it?), making it per-battle seems like a good move and might balance out harder difficulties a little.
- Hearing it in the context of the game, the new battle theme feels a bit more like a battle theme than Last Surprise to me.
- The end battle results being condensed is nice to have.
I watched some of the supposedly (?) true boss and it's that Takuto guy?
And his battle resembles like Nyarlathotep with the tentacles coming out of the ground!
I think it was pretty cool.
And his battle resembles like Nyarlathotep with the tentacles coming out of the ground!
I think it was pretty cool.
2nd new Bonus Boss
I hope the chainsaw being her weapon shows up in Scramble and a future P5 Arena.
Despite it having very little to do with the main plot of the game - i do like this story and i like Akechi,Kasumi's depictions. The only issue is really the ending, they should have said Akechi saying goodbye to the rest and then fading from existance and have him not show up in the end
If you don't mind, who's the other bonus boss? Is it the boss of the new scenario or something else?
Im not counting new story bosses. There's actually quite a few of those.
The other new bonus boss is Jose.
The other new bonus boss is Jose.
Long post coming through—
The deeper into the game I get, the more I start to notice the significant changes/additions sprinkled through. I've been saying this all along, but as the game opens up, there are even more things that I'm finding I actually do really like a lot. I'm at about 7/9 now, having finished the third palace, a lot more new content and mechanics are starting to show up.
I think my favorite change so far has been to fusions. If you want to fuse a Persona with 3+ Personas, you no longer have to leave the fusion menu to buy back or refuse things from the Compendium. A yen symbol will show up in the fusion menu next to any fusion ingredients you have in your compendium, allowing you to buy the Personas and fuse them into the desired result without all the micromanagement and menu work. It also just saves a lot of effort of making stock slots just for fusions. It's such a simple QOL change that goes a long way.
The Palaces definitely feel quicker to go through now, even with the changes and added puzzles to nab the ishi; Kaneshiro Palace took maybe 1-1.5 hours total, and that was with me getting a bit stuck on finding the last ishi and navigating the changes to the vault section and an added tutorial for the Showtime attacks. I'm pretty sure in vanilla, that palace was 2-4 hours if you did it in one shot thoroughly (checking every room/chest/not just entering in the vault codes without doing the full puzzle/etc).
I also think Mementos is legitimately a lot more fun now. It felt like way less of slog; the changes to Ryuji's rank 7 are really good. Only activates when dashing, you still get the items/exp/money you would have if you battled. If your Persona stock is full, it doesn't give you the option to replace the new one with one in your stock—a minor annoyance if you're collecting Personas you missed, but saves a menu and isn't really a big deal since you can just go into regular battle or fuse what you miss anyway. Jose's bonuses help with getting money and exp, and some of it aids in the sense of wanting to explore the floors so you can get all the points you need to upgrade the Mementos boosts, The music changing after the first couple of blocks also helps a whole lot. It's not perfect, but it's a significant improvement over the original setup.
In terms of additions/fleshing out original content, the changes continue to be small, but in ways I really enjoy. A bunch of confidants have a bonus scene after you unlock rank 1 that gives a little more insight and a chance to boost their confidant points, such as:
I continue to enjoy the post-confidant rank phone calls and small additions in content, like the scenes where characters plan their showtime attacks being completely Joker-free and giving the PTs more interactions separate of him.
The new content is really well integrated and Kasumi and Maruki both feel like good additions to the cast. I think the writing in their Confidants is actually stronger than some of the base Confidants, and does a healthy amount of foreshadowing for their overall storylines and roles in the new semester. I actually really like both of them a lot. And as someone who very much so doesn't like Akechi—his Confidant is good. While some of it feels a bit like it panders to a certain audience and plays into his popularity, it gives him some much-needed depth that his auto-rank Confidant lacked. It will definitely help to sell some of what the vanilla game tried and failed at because he was at times written more like a plot device than an actual character. I think regardless of whether you like him or not, it's easy to see that there's a lot of consideration put into better integrating him into the story and making you feel what they probably originally intended the majority to feel.
I haven't delved too much in My Palace, but I'm starting to pay more attention to some stuff here—the things you set up in the Palace will affect conversations between characters that show up. Like for example, I had Arsene set up, and Morgana and Ryuji have a talk about what prompted Joker's Persona awakening. It's a small thing, but it's again—optional, but quality conversations between the characters that doesn't have to have Joker as a linchpin, since it happens regardless of what you decorate the Palace with.
Almost halfway through the original campaign, I think P5R gets a lot right. Sure, there are things I wish they would have changed to make some of the main story a little more cohesive, but I still think this is the better version of the vanilla content thus far and I'm getting more enjoyment out of it than I thought I would—though my expectations were admittedly 6 feet under as someone who is actually not a fan of the story/s.link additions in P4G and really only liked it for the QOL changes. This feels like a step up from that for me, personally.
The deeper into the game I get, the more I start to notice the significant changes/additions sprinkled through. I've been saying this all along, but as the game opens up, there are even more things that I'm finding I actually do really like a lot. I'm at about 7/9 now, having finished the third palace, a lot more new content and mechanics are starting to show up.
I think my favorite change so far has been to fusions. If you want to fuse a Persona with 3+ Personas, you no longer have to leave the fusion menu to buy back or refuse things from the Compendium. A yen symbol will show up in the fusion menu next to any fusion ingredients you have in your compendium, allowing you to buy the Personas and fuse them into the desired result without all the micromanagement and menu work. It also just saves a lot of effort of making stock slots just for fusions. It's such a simple QOL change that goes a long way.
The Palaces definitely feel quicker to go through now, even with the changes and added puzzles to nab the ishi; Kaneshiro Palace took maybe 1-1.5 hours total, and that was with me getting a bit stuck on finding the last ishi and navigating the changes to the vault section and an added tutorial for the Showtime attacks. I'm pretty sure in vanilla, that palace was 2-4 hours if you did it in one shot thoroughly (checking every room/chest/not just entering in the vault codes without doing the full puzzle/etc).
I also think Mementos is legitimately a lot more fun now. It felt like way less of slog; the changes to Ryuji's rank 7 are really good. Only activates when dashing, you still get the items/exp/money you would have if you battled. If your Persona stock is full, it doesn't give you the option to replace the new one with one in your stock—a minor annoyance if you're collecting Personas you missed, but saves a menu and isn't really a big deal since you can just go into regular battle or fuse what you miss anyway. Jose's bonuses help with getting money and exp, and some of it aids in the sense of wanting to explore the floors so you can get all the points you need to upgrade the Mementos boosts, The music changing after the first couple of blocks also helps a whole lot. It's not perfect, but it's a significant improvement over the original setup.
In terms of additions/fleshing out original content, the changes continue to be small, but in ways I really enjoy. A bunch of confidants have a bonus scene after you unlock rank 1 that gives a little more insight and a chance to boost their confidant points, such as:
Kawakami reminding Joker that he should study before bed because his grades will drop if he fools around too much. Yusuke feeling that his ability to replicate skill cards will be really useful to the Phantom Thieves. Makoto being grateful for Joker going with her to the arcade, because it wasn't something she would have been able to do on her own.
I continue to enjoy the post-confidant rank phone calls and small additions in content, like the scenes where characters plan their showtime attacks being completely Joker-free and giving the PTs more interactions separate of him.
The new content is really well integrated and Kasumi and Maruki both feel like good additions to the cast. I think the writing in their Confidants is actually stronger than some of the base Confidants, and does a healthy amount of foreshadowing for their overall storylines and roles in the new semester. I actually really like both of them a lot. And as someone who very much so doesn't like Akechi—his Confidant is good. While some of it feels a bit like it panders to a certain audience and plays into his popularity, it gives him some much-needed depth that his auto-rank Confidant lacked. It will definitely help to sell some of what the vanilla game tried and failed at because he was at times written more like a plot device than an actual character. I think regardless of whether you like him or not, it's easy to see that there's a lot of consideration put into better integrating him into the story and making you feel what they probably originally intended the majority to feel.
He's still fake as hell this early on and still does awful shit, but at least you start to see some layers to his character that will make the fact that he is supposed to be Joker's foil a lot more believable.
I haven't delved too much in My Palace, but I'm starting to pay more attention to some stuff here—the things you set up in the Palace will affect conversations between characters that show up. Like for example, I had Arsene set up, and Morgana and Ryuji have a talk about what prompted Joker's Persona awakening. It's a small thing, but it's again—optional, but quality conversations between the characters that doesn't have to have Joker as a linchpin, since it happens regardless of what you decorate the Palace with.
Almost halfway through the original campaign, I think P5R gets a lot right. Sure, there are things I wish they would have changed to make some of the main story a little more cohesive, but I still think this is the better version of the vanilla content thus far and I'm getting more enjoyment out of it than I thought I would—though my expectations were admittedly 6 feet under as someone who is actually not a fan of the story/s.link additions in P4G and really only liked it for the QOL changes. This feels like a step up from that for me, personally.
When i think about it, Takuto is easily one of the best Persona villains we have had in ages. Persona villains have never been too great but man this guy knocks it out of the path from his motivation, personality,backstory and his conflict with the Phantom Theives
Finished the game. Just over 110 hours, but I really took my time with it and didn't skip anything. There's a number of little niggles, but for the most part I liked it.
I'm now going back through it from an earlier save to unlock some stuff for My Palace, and I just beat the fourth dungeon in like 30 minutes rushing through it avoiding everything. I can definitely see people getting their runtimes way down, because with a little effort you can skip almost every encounter in dungeons with the way that cover works now, and in general they've made a lot more segments of the dungeons optional on the whole. The incredibly tedious keycard section from that start of Palace #5 has been streamlined big time and takes far less time, and Palace #7 has now made a few big parts almost completely optional and removed all the mid-area loading screens that made enemies respawn from the original. Non-completionists who just want to clear the dungeons and get back to the story will be able to do that a lot faster now.
They also made it waaaay easier to max all your co-ops and social parameters this time round. DVDs, games, and books become much more useful now that you can do stuff in the cafe on nights where you weren't able to go out. I had all my co-ops (barring story/gated ones) maxed by the start of December, and my stats about a month before that. I almost regret putting so much effort into optimizing my time, because it left the latter parts of the game with not a lot of stuff to spend my time doing.
One of my biggest complaints has to be the amount of voice acting. The fact that now almost every story scene is voiced, but they didn't add any new voice acting to the co-ops whatsoever is baffling to me. I'd gladly trade the voiced random subway platform conversations and dungeon explanations to have just a few more ranks in each co-op voiced. The voice acting also becomes much more scarce in the third semester; the third persona awakenings aren't even voiced.
I'm now going back through it from an earlier save to unlock some stuff for My Palace, and I just beat the fourth dungeon in like 30 minutes rushing through it avoiding everything. I can definitely see people getting their runtimes way down, because with a little effort you can skip almost every encounter in dungeons with the way that cover works now, and in general they've made a lot more segments of the dungeons optional on the whole. The incredibly tedious keycard section from that start of Palace #5 has been streamlined big time and takes far less time, and Palace #7 has now made a few big parts almost completely optional and removed all the mid-area loading screens that made enemies respawn from the original. Non-completionists who just want to clear the dungeons and get back to the story will be able to do that a lot faster now.
They also made it waaaay easier to max all your co-ops and social parameters this time round. DVDs, games, and books become much more useful now that you can do stuff in the cafe on nights where you weren't able to go out. I had all my co-ops (barring story/gated ones) maxed by the start of December, and my stats about a month before that. I almost regret putting so much effort into optimizing my time, because it left the latter parts of the game with not a lot of stuff to spend my time doing.
One of my biggest complaints has to be the amount of voice acting. The fact that now almost every story scene is voiced, but they didn't add any new voice acting to the co-ops whatsoever is baffling to me. I'd gladly trade the voiced random subway platform conversations and dungeon explanations to have just a few more ranks in each co-op voiced. The voice acting also becomes much more scarce in the third semester; the third persona awakenings aren't even voiced.
I really appreciate them shifting the focus of the game's ending a lot more towards the characters deciding the steps to take for their futures and the whole "chosen path" theme. P5 talked a lot about "stealing your future back" but didn't really elaborate on what that meant for the characters, and it's nice to see P5R go slightly further with that. Unfortunately, I think the actual ending cutscene is pretty bad and feels like it's trying to stay close to the original one while also trying to be different and it just comes across as messy and confused. The scenes during the credits of everyone moving forward with their lives are great though, and I love the new credits music. The new bad end for accepting Maruki's reality is also easily my favorite bad ending of the series and without it the stakes would be much lower.
I think what they did with Akechi is about as good as they could have done. His new co-op was pretty disappointing (though to be fair, the way the game's story is structured means there's very little room to actually add stuff with his character prior to the Casino), but I liked the stuff in the third semester. My reading of the post-credits scene is that Joker's imagining him/mistaking someone else for him, not that he's actually alive. I do think the scene is deliberately vague so as to upset as few people as possible though.
As a villain, Maruki's decent. Playing through the game I was really frustrated at how obvious it was that he was going to be the new villain, but after beating the game I was fine with it. It's incredibly refreshing for him to not be cartoonish and evil and for there to be a lot of effort put into fleshing him out as a character, and his willingness to just talk with the characters and try and get them to see eye to eye with him. But at the same time, there's a lot of moral questions that the game just avoids altogether. His palace doesn't really have as strong of a "final dungeon" feeling to it, and I rolled my eyes at the locked door questions and just how condescending the game was for the sequence where you need to answer the questions so as not to require "treatment", but I still liked it. Hino Satoshi does a fantastic job in the role, especially when things start falling apart for him.
I'm mixed on the new final boss too. It's refreshing in just how different he is to other final bosses in the series, being just a guy with a Persona and not a god, not having the protagonist summon his ultimate Persona, and not having another montage of all the side characters cheering you on, but at the same time it is much less of a climax than the original game because of all of this. The other thing is I feel the fight is far too simple; while Yaldabaoth had lots of different mechanics and the whole sins gimmick, the fight with Azathoth is a very simple, straight forward one where you just have to use baton touch a lot and Adam Kadmon is barely a fight at all.
Sumire's not as big a focus of the game as I expected, and mainly feels like she's there to continue the Atlus re-release tradition of adding a new character. She feels more like an ally to the group than an actual member, similar to Akechi. I do like her though, and would like to see her again in spin-offs, but at the same time I feel like it might be a while before they promote her since just saying her name is a spoiler.
I really don't see the point of Jose at all. Unless there's something secret I'm missing, the game doesn't really reveal anything about him other than that he made a promise with someone to study humans. Beating his optional boss fight doesn't answer anything at all.
I think what they did with Akechi is about as good as they could have done. His new co-op was pretty disappointing (though to be fair, the way the game's story is structured means there's very little room to actually add stuff with his character prior to the Casino), but I liked the stuff in the third semester. My reading of the post-credits scene is that Joker's imagining him/mistaking someone else for him, not that he's actually alive. I do think the scene is deliberately vague so as to upset as few people as possible though.
As a villain, Maruki's decent. Playing through the game I was really frustrated at how obvious it was that he was going to be the new villain, but after beating the game I was fine with it. It's incredibly refreshing for him to not be cartoonish and evil and for there to be a lot of effort put into fleshing him out as a character, and his willingness to just talk with the characters and try and get them to see eye to eye with him. But at the same time, there's a lot of moral questions that the game just avoids altogether. His palace doesn't really have as strong of a "final dungeon" feeling to it, and I rolled my eyes at the locked door questions and just how condescending the game was for the sequence where you need to answer the questions so as not to require "treatment", but I still liked it. Hino Satoshi does a fantastic job in the role, especially when things start falling apart for him.
I'm mixed on the new final boss too. It's refreshing in just how different he is to other final bosses in the series, being just a guy with a Persona and not a god, not having the protagonist summon his ultimate Persona, and not having another montage of all the side characters cheering you on, but at the same time it is much less of a climax than the original game because of all of this. The other thing is I feel the fight is far too simple; while Yaldabaoth had lots of different mechanics and the whole sins gimmick, the fight with Azathoth is a very simple, straight forward one where you just have to use baton touch a lot and Adam Kadmon is barely a fight at all.
Sumire's not as big a focus of the game as I expected, and mainly feels like she's there to continue the Atlus re-release tradition of adding a new character. She feels more like an ally to the group than an actual member, similar to Akechi. I do like her though, and would like to see her again in spin-offs, but at the same time I feel like it might be a while before they promote her since just saying her name is a spoiler.
I really don't see the point of Jose at all. Unless there's something secret I'm missing, the game doesn't really reveal anything about him other than that he made a promise with someone to study humans. Beating his optional boss fight doesn't answer anything at all.
Now that I've finished the game, I can give my full thoughts/impressions . I'll start with the general stuff and then detail the stuff that needs to be spoiler-hidden. If anyone is interested in the bigger more spoilery thoughts about certain characters or plot points, I may come back and do those later.
I will say I enjoyed the game thoroughly, and while it didn't actively fix a lot of the problems I had with the original's writing, what was added made the game largely feel more cohesive . It's not without issue, but by the time I was done, I felt as if the game had more than paid for itself (I got a good 20-25 hours with the third semester, plus the added time throughout and my generally just liking P5 ). I was very skeptical going in and not very hyped; I'm in a small minority that doesn't like P4G for anything but the QOL updates... so my expectations were exceeded in the end.
WHAT THE GAME GOT RIGHT:
Personally, the negatives don't outweigh the positives for me; Kasumi has edged her way up to being one of my favorite girls in the entire Persona franchise, and my opinion of Akechi is markedly improved from the original game. I loved the new content and the things they did, while the things I didn't like were more like minor marks off an A+ score for me. I think it's the best way to play Persona 5; you can choose to not activate the new semester by skipping over the conditions and still play the original game story, or enjoy everything it added. Many won't see it as worth the full price of a new game; I wouldn't fault anyone for it even if for me, it was worth it. If you didn't like P5 to begin with, you're unlikely to enjoy this version either, truthfully. The game feels largely like a love letter to the fans, tweaking and fixing some issues and delivering on a story that actually better suits it's original themes by the end. And I was okay with that.
I will say I enjoyed the game thoroughly, and while it didn't actively fix a lot of the problems I had with the original's writing, what was added made the game largely feel more cohesive . It's not without issue, but by the time I was done, I felt as if the game had more than paid for itself (I got a good 20-25 hours with the third semester, plus the added time throughout and my generally just liking P5 ). I was very skeptical going in and not very hyped; I'm in a small minority that doesn't like P4G for anything but the QOL updates... so my expectations were exceeded in the end.
WHAT THE GAME GOT RIGHT:
- New Confidants: I thought all three new confidants were done excellently. Akechi's does what the game needed for him, to both flesh him out in a way that isn't forced and poorly done exposition, to see him in a casual light and to better deal with his true nature. Maruki's is just flat out excellent in every single way. I liked the whole of how they handled it. Kasumi's too, and she was the one I was most wary about.
- New Story Content: Going hand-in-hand with the above, the new story content is just solid. I found the characters were integrated well, the foreshadowing was good (to the point that I had to go back and check something alluded to having happened early on that I didn't catch), and it all tied into the plot and themes well. It could have been expanded to be it's own full Persona games with the themes on their own, but I liked how they tied it all together. These first two points are just way more massive than I can succinctly explain in a spoiler-free way.
- QOL: Gameplay is generally smoother now, with a lot more options for optimization. Persona traits that can be inherited when fusing, equippable items that grant skills (I was able to give Ryuji a pretty good healing skill with this, just for fun), things that will make battles easier, or even easier to skip if you want to. Ryuji's insta-kill only triggers on way weaker enemies while dashing and still gives you exp/money/items instead of just the Persona, so you don't lose any of the benefits if you just want to barrel through. Most Palaces go faster, with areas re-worked; Palace 5's keycards are way less tedious, the airlock puzzle requires less effort, Palace 7's puzzles are also both more straightforward and easier to skip. Fusion alerts can have huge boons . Social parameters are much easier to raise and time management is better without Morgana forcing sleep—even with three new confidants in the fray, I had everything possible maxed by mid-December.
- Music: The new music is just great all around. I really loved all the new tracks, and how the new songs/lyrics fit the themes of the content and what was happening perfectly. I'm listening to it now and just enjoying every track for what it is.
- New PT events: They could have done better with this, but there were quite a few moments of the group doing stuff together at various times that didn't get mired by the plot situation. There are things I wish they had expanded upon better and glossed over.
- Mementos: Much less of a slog. Having music changes goes a long way, as do Jose's changes to boost exp/money/items. There are some new (I think about 8?) missions to complete, and the later ones a S-difficulty and a couple with specific win conditions. The only way it'll feel really sloggish and grindy is trying to get all of the stamps in each block, which are RNG determined and will require multiple floor checks. I don't really recommend doing this, it's not worth it.
- New enemies/Personas: There aren't a ton, but my biggest issue wasn't that so much as a couple of them are an absolute pain to fight because of their resistances (like absorbing/reflecting/blocking all but three and having no weaknesses, which ends up just wasting time and SP), especially when they're semi-common encounters. I found myself escaping at times just because I found it to be more wasteful than was worth the reward.
- Issues from vanilla content: There are no significant changes here. Pacing still sucks at the end of summer, bad exposition dumps are still bad, a lot of the unsavory bits are still there because they didn't actually cut any of the vanilla content (the things from Akechi's old confidant ranks are still there, for example, just without being tied to ranking, as well as the stuff y'all know ready). There are a few minor improvements, like some characters appearing in very small doses earlier, but that's about it.
- Boss fight re-balancing: Not all of them are done poorly, but a lot of the new gimmicks were just not really necessary; Palace 5's boss in particular is actually worse than the original, which I didn't think was actually possible. I was so aggravated during that fight because the changed mechanics were just absolutely not fun.
- The new ending: Specifically, the ending anime cutscene is just much weaker and facilitates focus on the wrong places. The lead into it is pretty good, they made some changes elsewhere that I liked, but I much, much prefer the original true end anime sequence and what it meant for the crew; they could have done something new while keeping that tone and it would have actually made the changes hit much, much harder and more emotionally.
- Joker's third tier Persona: It's DLC, which is stupid. It's so stupid not just because Atlus has bad DLC practices, but because they had a perfect moment to actually include it in the game and then didn't. It was a waste of a really good moment that could have fit into the narrative. Instead, it's a DLC Persona you can just buy as soon as you have Velvet Room access, taking away all the meaning behind it.
Personally, the negatives don't outweigh the positives for me; Kasumi has edged her way up to being one of my favorite girls in the entire Persona franchise, and my opinion of Akechi is markedly improved from the original game. I loved the new content and the things they did, while the things I didn't like were more like minor marks off an A+ score for me. I think it's the best way to play Persona 5; you can choose to not activate the new semester by skipping over the conditions and still play the original game story, or enjoy everything it added. Many won't see it as worth the full price of a new game; I wouldn't fault anyone for it even if for me, it was worth it. If you didn't like P5 to begin with, you're unlikely to enjoy this version either, truthfully. The game feels largely like a love letter to the fans, tweaking and fixing some issues and delivering on a story that actually better suits it's original themes by the end. And I was okay with that.
Yo, hold up, Joker's third tier Persona is DLC!? What the fuck is going on with this company?
Atlus gonna Atlus. They have shit DLC practices in every respect and this was the most pants on head stupid one out of all their bad DLC choices for this game, this one was the worst for me because it robbed Joker of a really good third tier awakening scene. His Persona also comes like probably 15-20 levels below where I was by the time third tier awakenings happened too (I bought it because I had some spare cash on my JP account but ended up fusing a better one than the default so it was viable for endgame).
Quick Yes and No question for those that completed the game: Does Akechi
It was so awkwardly handled in the original, like multiple facets of the character. I was hoping it'd be fixed here. And again, without spoiling every little bit, I am curious.
get a better realized answer as far as his involvement in Futaba's mother's death? Any expansion and/or follow-up with that?
I didn't post these here when I originally made my Twitter post, but I compiled a fairly comprehensive list of changes and adjustments in P5R. It's a bit truncated, as I don't go into any details about the story/characters beyond that they have new content, and some of the gameplay details are not explained in detail. But it covers a lot of the gameplay adjustments and QOL fixes that Royal makes. I'm sure I've mentioned a fair bit of them in previous posts, and a couple of them may need slight adjustment but this is the easy infographic version.
It's a little big since I made it specifically for Twitter, but I kind of hope it helps for people who are looking for specifics when it comes to exactly what kind of changes to expect. I don't mind fielding questions about specifics on some of these either, if anyone is curious.
It's a little big since I made it specifically for Twitter, but I kind of hope it helps for people who are looking for specifics when it comes to exactly what kind of changes to expect. I don't mind fielding questions about specifics on some of these either, if anyone is curious.
Thanks for the awesome post! straylize if you don't mind I have a question about new/changed events.
In vanilla 5 I found the events disappointing. The festival gets rained out. Does that still happen? You go to Hawaii and don't really do anything, is there more to do there now? You spend the whole school event talking about akechi instead of having fun it feels like. Etc.
And in the brand new end game content is there a big event? I really dug the ski trip at the end of golden and was hoping for something like that here. Thanks!
In vanilla 5 I found the events disappointing. The festival gets rained out. Does that still happen? You go to Hawaii and don't really do anything, is there more to do there now? You spend the whole school event talking about akechi instead of having fun it feels like. Etc.
And in the brand new end game content is there a big event? I really dug the ski trip at the end of golden and was hoping for something like that here. Thanks!
Nothing was removed from the original game, just a few assorted lines were changed. There are a lot of new events, though and new scenes added to some old events. Some are very small moments, but there are a couple of fun new events with the Phantom Thieves that don't get totally spoiled by anything. I'd say there's a fairly equivalent amount of new content—the difference is that P5R's new cutscenes are largely things that pertain to the new story. They did a lot to flesh out the new characters through the vanilla campaign, and that makes the new semester content really have a better impact. There's nothing quite like the ski trip, but the brand new endgame content is very meaty (there are a few fun events for the group, they're just not quite like P4's by nature).
There's a new event in the summer for the guys, a couple of new hawaii scenes, new holiday scenes in the new semester, etc.
Indeed the new story beats are nice to see, you get to know more about the confidents and how they feel.
I would also say there's no event as big as the ski trip here, but at least you have some new animated scenes at the start of January for new year's for example.
I would also say there's no event as big as the ski trip here, but at least you have some new animated scenes at the start of January for new year's for example.
Alrighty thanks for your thoughts! Events are my favourite part of these games. I wasn't expecting stuff on the level of golden which I thought was excellent, but I'm glad they at least put a decent amount of effort into that stuff.
Yeah InternHertz ive heard positive reception to the story beats. Just seems weird to me that in vanilla, they seemed to almost self sabotage all the possible fun events. I'm glad that there's at least some new fun event stuff, even if there's not one big moment/set piece.
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One of the reason is Joker 2nd persona is already too good, you can't really create 3rd one without making it utter broken. I am cool with it being weaker but with some unique abiliities. Being DCL sucks I agree, I still brought it the same reason as you.
All in all I enjoyed this game way more than vanilla because of the final third of the game alone. Kasumi and the final palace. This final boss really make me feel it is a real person. Not some typical JRPG trope boss. And his boss theme is also god tier.
Just arrived.
That box is SICK!
straylize Could you answer this for me please? I asked a few pages back but never got a response.
Sounds like Royal was a training exercise for Persona team now that Hashino isn't directing the series. I really hope they have the guts to do a college setting and make significant changes to the formula. They've perfected the formula, time to do something new.
Not optimistic about any of that happening with Persona 6 anyway. They'll probably play it safe...
Not optimistic about any of that happening with Persona 6 anyway. They'll probably play it safe...
2 Questions
1. Does Kasumi join the party early on? Wondering if i should expect to have her for dungeons during the base game or not
2. Has anyone pixel counted this to confirm the resolution on a PS4 Pro? I know it's enhanced for Pro but I don't know if that means native 4k or something like 1440p
1. Does Kasumi join the party early on? Wondering if i should expect to have her for dungeons during the base game or not
2. Has anyone pixel counted this to confirm the resolution on a PS4 Pro? I know it's enhanced for Pro but I don't know if that means native 4k or something like 1440p
No,
she is your last official member, even after Akechi rejoin your party, mid of the last dungeon (although she was awaken much earlier in the story, after Okumura dungeon)
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Not really, no. It's not the focus of anything at all, but the fact he was involved in that and Okumura's death are definitely a source of tension between Futaba, Haru and Akechi specifically when joining up in the third semester. It's kind of a "we'll team up with you out of necessity, but haven't forgiven you" sort of situation.
I see. I expected as much. I would have preferred an extended focus, but I'll live though.
Really looking forward to getting the Royal CE and thanks for your write ups on it!
Yeah, it for sure would have been nice, but I can say... as someone who absolutely loathed everything about how they handled that whole character in vanilla, I was really happy with the majority of what was done in Royal and vastly improved my opinion, if only because the way the new story arc is handled lends itself well to everything. I'm glad if my writeups have been any help—there are still a ton of misconceptions floating around, so clearing up what little I can is the least I can do!
That's lame. Does she pop up throughout the vanilla game at least like in events or anything? I'm guessing you get her link early on at least as I'm assuming you need to complete it to unlock the bonus stuff after the main game?
non spoilery question. I've heard that Royal removes a bunch of filler text? Is that true? I've heard mixed things on that
Yes, It is frustrating we are not gonna play her until almost the end. But story wise it is acceptable, unlike Haru, interaction with Kasumi starts much earlier and her confident starts way before her awakening. So essentially her character was built when she joined the party.
As a side note, the last palace was designed much better than Shido palace in terms of structure (the store regarding Kasumi & final boss were properly revealed during the dungeon exploration, rather than some long, meaningless maze as Shido's one).
As a side note, the last palace was designed much better than Shido palace in terms of structure (the store regarding Kasumi & final boss were properly revealed during the dungeon exploration, rather than some long, meaningless maze as Shido's one).
As for the text, my Japanese proficiency is not good enough for me to read every single line unhindered. So I skipped alot of filler stuff in both games to notice the difference.
Is there multiple new endings or is there just one? Also if there is some missable new true ending does it have any cryptic stuff locking it?
The original real ending for P5 was pretty much what you would naturally get unless you didn't aim for it.
The original real ending for P5 was pretty much what you would naturally get unless you didn't aim for it.
Kasumi is around a lot before she joins the party. She's got more integration than just a normal confidant (which unlocks fairly early in the game) and has a bunch of events tied to her. She's treated more like a normal confidant though in terms of her interactions, since she doesn't spend a ton of time with the Thieves, though she's not totally isolated from them, either. It's done in a way that works, especially since plot-wise, they justify when she joins just fine and Atlus sure as hell wasn't going to re-do all the major cutscenes to accomodate the changes.
I want to say there are less instances of repetitive texts, but it's a "don't quote me on that" sort of thing because I had a tendency to kind of speed through them... even in vanilla, I mostly just skimmed them. I feel like it was less them being repetitive and more newer ones (there are new ones now with pictures being sent which are cute), but I don't have the same frame of reference for the texts that I do for picking up new events or dialogues within the vanilla campaign.
There are new bad ends that have different time/condition triggers, one for not finishing the dungeon in time, one for specific choices made. It's much like the original game—the choices you should make are pretty plainly obvious, so it's hard to miss getting the new true ending once you've locked into the third semester content.