Persona 5: As swag as you'll never be

[Zerviscos]

Ohboi ohboi ohboi



Finally a new Persona game that wasn't a remake/dancing game.

[commandercool]

What about the fighting games and Persona Q? Those are great.



Took the day off work. Don't tell my boss.

[Suwako Moriya]

Thank fuck this is finally here. Now Atlus USA can get their butts in gear on localizing the truly important fifth installment in one of their signature series.

[commandercool]

Not sure how strict to be with the spoiler tags but I'm really not on board with how the enemies

Spoiler:

are all just generic Shin Megami Tensei designs so far. Some of the Persona flavor is lost when there aren't crazy arcana-based Persona enemies

.

[Sect]

Seems Atlus has guidelines on streaming P5.

EDIT: All in all, I approve of Atlus's decision to be up front with notifying people how P5 should be streamed.

[commandercool]

It seems kiiiind of shitty to be aggressive about spoilers for a game that's been out and spoiled for a long time, significantly because it took them so long to release it outside of Japan.

I appreciate the enthusiasm I guess, but as a person who's avoided Japanese spoilers like the plague I can't help be take this the wrong way just a bit.

[Aya Reiko]

Seems Atlus has guidelines on streaming P5.

EDIT: All in all, I approve of Atlus's decision to be up front with notifying people how P5 should be streamed.

Jimothy has a take on this.
tl;dw version-- It goes to show how behind the times the Japanese devs really are.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I got my special edition copy a few days ago, but haven't had the chance to play it much yet

Re: ATLUS: I actually wasn't too upset about the warning because I've been scared of being spoiled by people who post details haphazardly ever since the game came out. But the threat was... yeah. You don't threaten people on the internet. Things don't go the way you want them to.

[Serela]

Not posting spoilers is good and all, but not only is threats a bit over the top, but also... like, if people don't want to be spoiled, they shouldn't be watching streams of the game anyway. It's not like you're going to accidentally see a stream playing over twitter or facebook or something.

But in other news, I beat the first major boss, and this game sure has a lot of personality. <3 It's too bad my playtime is somewhat restricted by not being able to play it at my own house, but it'll work out~

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Loving the game so far, but my minor quibbles with it so far are:

1. YES, I fucking KNOW you don't want to spread spoilers, ATLUS. You don't have to pop up and say "Screenshots Disabled" every time I get a fucking trophy. It pulls me out of the experience. Mega lame.
2. I think I'll have to drop down to Normal for now. I'm up to the first boss and I think I'm just simply underleveled and getting wrecked because of it. He just hits everyone but MC way too damn hard (and I can't maintain Rakukaja long enough to keep everyone alive at once, ugh).

[Serela]

2. I think I'll have to drop down to Normal for now. I'm up to the first boss and I think I'm just simply underleveled and getting wrecked because of it. He just hits everyone but MC way too damn hard (and I can't maintain Rakukaja long enough to keep everyone alive at once, ugh).

I'm on hard and some stuff does hit -really- hard. But once I went and fused Tarunda onto a decent persona, everything became fine. Tarunda is a godsend, damage goes down by like, what, HALF? Thankfully a party member learns it really early too, so the MC doesn't become a debuff bot with Tarunda and Rakunda.

edit:Well, getting ambushed can still be terrifying. >_>

[Sect]

Okay, nearly forty hours of gameplay, and I have beaten the third story dungeon on Hard. Two things: first, Hard is hellish. Two, status effects are so damned useful.

[Lt Streko]

I'm so glad this came out for PS3. I'd have been so sad otherwise. Love the game so far. The atmosphere has a lot going for it and I'm certainly  enjoying it more than Persona 4's. Combat and dungeon crawling is a lot more enjoyable than in P3 and P4. Debuffs/Buffs are ALOT stronger in this game it seems. I used to never bother with them in the previous games but now I really need to look into fusing my favorite personas with them (Instead of just getting a variety of elemental attacks.) A bit sad that succubus was nerfed and how early you can get her, but that's not going to stop me from using her for most of the game.

Takemi best girl (so far)

[commandercool]

I'm ~25 hours in, almost done with the second dungeon, and really happy with the game so far. As much as I don't love tedious SMT mechanics being crammed in while pushing out an unfortunate amount of Persona flavor, the plot, characters, and dungeon crawling totally make up for it and more.

I really like almost the entire voice cast and the flow of the game is much better than in P4 (although maybe not quite as good as P3). Although I'm not thrilled about how the game blocks me from being able to do anything at night 80% of the time.

[Moogs Parfait]

I really like almost the entire voice cast and the flow of the game is much better than in P4 (although maybe not quite as good as P3). Although I'm not thrilled about how the game blocks me from being able to do anything at night 80% of the time.

My twitter feed is full of exasperation over this (rightly so)

[Ozzter]

Oh hey something to come out of lurking for.

This is my first persona game I've played, though having a lot of fun in it. About 70+ hours and dungeon 7 playing through merciless difficulty blind, which has been a journey in itself. I wish I could say everything has been on merciless, but the second boss was the only time I had to lower it since I ended up being extremely fed up with it in the end. Everything else onward has been manageable enough though, and the characters, music, and environments had been great. The story has been really engaging, and starting to get some ideas on how to max everything in subsequent runs, which I might want to try to do eventually, without a guide.

I really want to go back and play older ones since I definitely feel like I missed out, but that'd require me buying at least a PS3 which I don't currently have spare funds for.

Spoiler:

I still feel like I beat the fifth boss on a fluke though, I have no idea how to endure that blast without dodging, let alone 4+ times, at least on merciless

[commandercool]

The main battle theme is burned into my brain now. Best Persona battle theme ever?

[Lt Streko]

I'd have to agree. The battle theme is so good and catchy, while maintaining the genuine Persona feel. I like the late evening soundtrack as well. I just finished the second part of the game and I'm totally digging it. Can't wait to get off work so I can go home and ignore my other responsibilities and not study for my test play Persona 5.

I really want to go back and play older ones since I definitely feel like I missed out, but that'd require me buying at least a PS3 which I don't currently have spare funds for.

I know Persona 3 was for PS2, and I want to say Persona 4 was too, but I could be wrong.

[commandercool]

Personas 3 and 4 are both PS2 games, with remakes for PSP and Vita respectively.

The nighttime theme and the battle theme are the best two tracks, yeah.

[Raikaria]

I want to play Persona 5 so much but the thing is; while there is a PS4 in the house it ain't mine.

It's my mothers and she's borderline addicted to it.

If I can get her peeled off it; I will buy P5 and play it in some free time. But that's an if.

Okay, nearly forty hours of gameplay, and I have beaten the third story dungeon on Hard. Two things: first, Hard is hellish. Two, status effects are so damned useful.

Welcome to Megami Tensei; the JRPG series where buffs; debuffs; status and instakill moves are not relegated to 'useless useful spells'. Key example: Concentrate is a 'give up your turn to buff your next magic spell' move that in a bizzare twist; actually gives you more than a x2 bonus so actually makes it work using over just attacking twice unlike every single other JRPG where there's a similar move that's a complete DPT loss. [Of course; Concentrate carries the risk of you missing and wasteing 2 turns]

Especially in this game where; from what I've heard; Holy/Curse are no longer strictly instakill elementals and do damage if they fail now. I don't know for sure; not played it myself yet.

[PX]

Holy/Curse actually have damaging spells instead of just Hama/Mudo

[Raikaria]

Holy/Curse actually have damaging spells instead of just Hama/Mudo

Ah; I guess I heard wrong then. Or didn't hear enough. Still, more use for light/dark resist than 'Instakill prevention' is nice.

Also just because I don't have the game [yet] doesn't mean I can't listen to some of the tunes. As expected; it's awesome.

[Ozzter]

I know Persona 3 was for PS2, and I want to say Persona 4 was too, but I could be wrong.

Well that makes the load on my wallet a bit lighter than, either way I still wouldn't have the funds, though I wouldn't mind getting both systems anyways at some point considering there's a lot of other games I feel like I want to go back and play.

On a side note I've reached a point to where I finally need to do a ton of grinding. Arahabaki can't save me from this one, haha.

[Lt Streko]

Did the difficulty suddenly ramp up in the third dungeon compared to the first two, or am I just bad? (Probably both.) Doesn't help when you bring four angels to a minuscule of health and they proceed to do four hamas and SUCCEED ON ALL FOUR ATTEMPTS AND WIPE YOU AND YOUR PARTY RIGHT BEFORE A SAFE ROOM. I even have a resist to holy damage. Oh well.

Also about the third part

Spoiler:

Was totally not expecting Makoto to transform into a bike persona. Was pretty cool. So far my favorite party member.

[PX]

Did the difficulty suddenly ramp up in the third dungeon compared to the first two, or am I just bad? (Probably both.) Doesn't help when you bring four angels to a minuscule of health and they proceed to do four hamas and SUCCEED ON ALL FOUR ATTEMPTS AND WIPE YOU AND YOUR PARTY RIGHT BEFORE A SAFE ROOM. I even have a resist to holy damage. Oh well.

Also about the third part

Spoiler:

Was totally not expecting Makoto to transform into a bike persona. Was pretty cool. So far my favorite party member.

Spoiler:

It's a spike alright, but status effects are your friend. They're broken as hell

[Sect]

I'm in August, and it's now at the point where you have enough variety in Persona and skills that Hard mode is very maneagable. I haven't even party wiped in two months!

[Lt Streko]

So after that string of trouble (I'm blaming bad luck) in the early part of the third Palace everything's been pretty much a breeze. Cleared that Palace and the Fourth in the shortest amount of time possible. Got a few of my favorite personas (Lilim, Nekomata) and even picked up a few new ones I really like. So far the game's really good. I was worried past playing for 50+ hours I'd start to burn out for my love, but I'm still going strong. I'd also have to say I feel the cast is much stronger/likeable compared to the other games. That goes for both the party and the other social links (or confidants).

I do have a problem though that I can't get past. Do I want to date Takemi or Makoto. Can't decide on who best girl is, and someone told me it's

Spoiler:

inadvisable to date multiple girls until valentines day?

.

Also confuse is funny as hell. Get all the free monies and items.

[PX]

Makoto is very adorable, choose her

[commandercool]

Just finished the fourth dungeon.

Spoiler:

Those fucking Anubises killed me more times than I care to admit, but I think that has more to do with my stubborn refusal to swap off of Arsene as my persona than anything else.

The game is super easyballs now that I have infinite SP, random insta-kills excepted.

My time is somehow ten hours ahead of other people I know at the same point. I finished the fourth dungeon around 52 hours, my roommate and one of my buddies are in similar positions at 40-45 hours. Maybe I just left my PS4 on when I went to work and didn't realize it one day or something...

There's a real lack of parity so far with how useful the social link effects are. On one hand you have effects like "basically unlimited SP in exchange for a one-time money investment" (Death), "add a bunch of days to the calendar" (Temperance) and "use your whole party all the time" (Star), and on the other hand you have minor buffs to nearly-irrelevant mechanics like negotiation and security (Sun and Devil). Although I haven't maxed out a single social link yet, so maybe the very late bonuses even things back out and make rushing the seemingly-mediocre ones worth it after all.

[Amraphenson]

Spoiler:

Being 10 hours extra probably has something to do with the aforementioned Arsene.