This was the last video game that I wanted to play in my life, ever since I finished and loved Persona 4 for its game design and its character-centric story in 2016. I heard the game’s praises over the years and that tempted me more to get a PS4. After finally getting a PS4 this year, playing as Joker in Smash, and seeing the discounted price, I grew impatient and took the plunge, investing in the game for an entire month. The time I spent with Persona 5 was well worth it, mostly from a game design standpoint. The gameplay aspects of school life management, dungeon exploration, UI, and combat has definitely improved substantially. I felt that every afternoon and evening I spent mattered, that feeling feels stronger in P5 far more than P4, considering the story’s focus on the protagonist’s unfair circumstances. Persona 5 motivated me in the last third of the game to the point where I wrote my own schedule to find the best methods of maximizing all my confidants. I was so close to achieving the feat in my first run, but circumstances like the rainy weather and Futaba’s Mementos mission ****ed over my tight schedule in December that made me miss maximizing the Shinya and Iwai confidants. It is unfortunate, but I still praise Persona 5 for making me think very critically about my decisions, far more than Persona 4. The time I spent figuring out the best course of action in each day of December was the pure peak of enjoyment for me.
As far as the story goes, it is pretty good overall, minus the endgame plot-twists. The beginning was intriguing and surprising with the way the game cycles from the protagonist’s life to Sae’s investigation is an interesting form of storytelling that raised the tension of the plot in ways that made me wonder what led to the protagonist’s arrest. The story started off pretty great with the Kamoshida conflict. Starting off with a villain who treated his volleyball team like **** and sexually harassed female students had me motivated to knock down Kamoshida’s palace and got me pretty interested in where the story would go next.
The next arc was a mixed bag. I thought Madarame being an art plagiarizer had the potential to go somewhere interesting. But when I went to the final point of the palace to hear Shadow Madarame’s motivation for taking advantage of students and their art, it felt too on the nose. The reasons Madarame has using art as an avenue for profit and complaining about issues of artistic inspiration are not bad per say and it is something that does happen with real artists, but it lacks interesting relationship complexity beyond those primary reasons. It gets to the point where Yusuke's stance will obviously not fall into agreeing with Madarame's ideals. As such, I could not get into the arc’s conflict because it was too easy to go against Madarame. That was the low point of Persona 5 for me.
At the least, Kaneshiro was a good next step for the story. The villain legitimately felt like a real threat worth kicking ass over with his actions of making Sae a sex slave. I could feel empathy for the students that were under debt because of Kaneshiro being a blatant money-grubber, as well as feel for Makoto and be greatly motivated once she kicked into her motorcycle Persona. The story later takes a break from greedy villains in favor of doing internal personal conflict with Futaba’s palace. I really liked how Futaba’s arc dealt with a character struggling to socially interact. Her backstory was quite a tragedy and relatable as hell, having to feel silent after being accused of killing her mother. The transition from interacting with a hacker to finding out the truth about Futaba’s conflict was done very well. Mr. Okumura more or less felt like a repeat of Madarame. The conflict of overworking workers and neglecting Haru for personal gain are not bad conflicts per say, but like with Madarame, there is not enough interesting relationship complexity between Haru and her father and not enough substance with Okumura’s reasoning for his actions to make me care. By that point, I felt more invested in the game’s overarching plot than caring about Mr. Okumura.
I greatly enjoyed how well built up the overarching plot was. A ton of things were set up that kept me curious of Joker’s investigation and the fate of the Phantom Thieves. At least from the beginning to the end of Shido’s arc, it was definitely a more engaging story than Persona 4’s. The plot really made me think about the unfair advantages and abuses that higher class people could achieve because of their position and authority. The tension of the story grew stronger as more people with higher power and control made their debut. My favorite moment of the overarching plot has to be the part where the Phantom Thieves outsmart Akechi. I tried to keep an open mind when I was constantly spoiled of Akechi constantly in social media for the past two year, and unfortunately his initial reveal did not really shock me. What blew me away was just how the plan was set up. It was kind of obvious to me that the Thieves would not trust Akechi especially when he puts the Thieves in a corner and initially wanted get rid of the group once and for all. I could not believe it. It was like some galaxy brain Death Note ending **** that I did not comprehend, but made my jaw drop regardless. Even Ryuji was able to outsmart Akechi, like ****ing wow. That was the peak of the story for me. The Shido ending was good, though it felt a bit anti-climatic to end with the treasure being a simple steering wheel.
Frankly, I was pretty satisfied with how the plot concluded. I was burnt out of P5 after stressing over my schedule to maximize confidants and going through the long Shido palace dungeon. When I first saw the plot twists of Igor and Yaldabaoth, I did not like it at all. I felt the story went on for far too long. Looking back and seeing how other people feel about the plot twists, I still dislike it. While I can appreciate the cleverness of hiding the twist with Igor’s new voice, I still found it jarring. The reveal of Lavenza did not impact me that much because their Caroline and Justine had pretty boring characterization and character chemistry, even in their confidants. The thematic conflict of control with Igor and a god (of sorts) makes sense in retrospect, but I feel a different kind of ultimatum antagonist would have been appropriate. A type of mythical being that had the traits of a thief, with better composure than Akechi, and more stylish charismatic than Joker to fit the tone of Persona 5. Yaldabaoth generally feels out of place to me.
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When it comes to the main characters, they are pretty good. But, the character chemistry is not as strong as Persona 4. The times I laughed my ass off and was having a good time with the characters was usually when I was hanging out with Mishima and Ryuji. Yusuke, Haru, Ann, and Futaba, while they have solid characterization, do not really interact in interesting ways when they are not investigating criminals. When it comes to individual conversations, they can be fun to be with. Each Phantom Thief’s character arc in the overarching story is pretty good too, though most get put in the background after their major appearances.
Ryuji: I enjoyed Ryuji the most out of all the main characters. He does not give a **** and he’s always willing to spit out a mouthful when he sees some unfair **** going on. He is consistently enjoyable because of that. I do not mind him being the numbskull of the group personally. He might not be the most unique dumb-head, but he sure as hell is entertaining to observe, especially when it comes to cool down parts of the game. He is a nice homeboy. His confidant however, was kind of dull. I get that after the Kamoshida incident, that the kind of confidant story of restarting the track team club would happen, but the developments were kind of typical and predictable of the character. I just felt like glossing over conversations and used the guide for help when the confidant conflict started to get boring around Rank 5.
Morgana: Honestly, I get the most enjoyment out of Morgana not because of his actual character arc or personality, but because I love to hate him for forcing to go to sleep. Whenever I had the chance to during dialogue options, I would treat Morgana like **** and mostly use him as a back-up for healing for most palaces. Do not get me wrong, I liked Morgana’s journey to realizing the truth in Mementos gave depth to his character and his gradual progression from selfishly participating with the Thieves caring about the group. But ultimately, I did not feel strongly about the character, nor did I find him charming. I find his constant bickering with Ryuji to be more irritating than enjoyable and his fondness for Ann is rather meh. I like Teddie ten times more than Morgana. I wish there had been an option to not let Morgana travel with you in-game. Morgana kinda becomes a nuisance like Navi in Zelda over time the more he guides and tells me what objectives to do.
Ann: I enjoyed Ann’s role the most in the Kamoshida arc, though I was not necessarily in love with her character. I liked her a bit more after maximizing her confidant revolving around gaining courage to care more about Shiho. When I reached the 9th rank of her confidant, I was moved by Ann’s goodbye to Shiho. Although, the Mika fashion rivalry was kind of a generic way to develop the character, mostly because the rival was the typical arrogant fashion *******. It is unfortunate that she kind of fades in the background after the Kamoshida arc and is kind of a joke character being teased about nude art constantly, but I did not mind it. I wanted at least a few more hilarious moments with Ann again after the bloated clothes stunt she pulled in the Madarame arc, but oh well.
Yusuke: Admittedly I do find charm with Yusuke. I enjoy his sheer cluelessness when he is doing art, but I wish that aspect of his character was pushed more in the main storyline. I would have love to have seen Yusuke share more art with the other characters. It would have been cool to see him interact with Futaba more so he can draw artistic weeb ****. Most of that aspect of his character is limited to his confidant and hangout scenes, which is unfortunate. Maybe he could have made an artistic landscape that builds as the Phantom Thieves progress in kicking criminal asses. Something to make Yusuke feel important to the Phantom Thieves. Not a bad character, but I think he was severely underutilized in the story.
Makoto: I have seen some people complain that Makoto hogs the overarching story and overshadows most of the main cast. I do not find that to be the issue. The main problem for me is that Makoto just becomes a generic student council president archetype after her badass development in the Kaneshiro arc. Even worse, with her confidant, she deals with a social issue that is far less interesting than the scheme of Kaneshiro. I would have liked at least to have seen more of that badass side of Makoto in the story, particular times when she was dealing with her sister Sae. I wanted Makoto to be able to stand up and shout diligently about the unfair actions going against her big sister, but that kind of development probably cannot happen because of the way Palaces conditions characters to remain silent on certain matters. It sucks honestly. I was originally going to date her seriously because of her badass side, but I decided against it after seeing more of her character in confidants and the story. Makoto ultimately felt more like a plot device than an actual character I could care about. I would have liked to see develop her badass side by being taught by Ryuji honestly.
Futaba: Probably one of the only characters alongside Ryuji that I enjoyed, to a degree. Futaba’s character arc from her first appearance to the Shido arc was an emotional ride. I empathized with her when she could not handle social interactions and wanted to help her escape her struggles as early as possible. I loved it when Futaba surprised Sojiro by coming to Leblanc as if nothing happened. I really liked how she noticeably evolves in the overarching story, with moments like Futaba defending Joker after Sojiro discovers the identity of the Phantom Thieves leader and Futaba being fully willing to stop Shido as more of the truth behind her mother was unveiled. I loved that her confidant continued her journey from interacting with close friends to people of the outside world. Her conflict with her old friend Kana and wanting to stop the abusing parents in Mementos reminded me of the bond of Hina and her old school friend share in 3-gatsu no lion’s bullying arc. I loved Futaba’s arc.
But, I find her characterization to be irritating sometimes, particularly in times when I am battling and she tells me in an annoying matter “welp, you don’t have the weakness for beating this enemy” and “you know you could just escape”. Generally, times when Futaba is being annoyingly blunt. She can be more annoying than Morgana at times. It makes sense within her character, but her occasional attitude makes me want to shout “Shut up!” to her. Also, I feel there were many missed opportunities to give Futaba fun character chemistry with guys like Ryuji (given their similar hobbies like video games that would have made the Phantom Thieves) a more livelier group. Yusuke would have been a fun guy for Futaba to have interesting situations with art, but at most, they interact with an unfunny “Inari” punchline. I still like Futaba a lot though. I even dated her multiple times on Valentines and Christmas because she has the most interesting character arc and because I could relate to her on a personal level. She just needs a little more adjustment in certain parts of her characterization.
Haru: Sort of like with Makoto, I was very swayed and attracted with her character with her real introduction to the Phantom Thieves, acting as sort of a clumsy, forgetting heroine that I initially wanted to see more of. Though as the overarching story progressed, she gets left in the wayside and becomes less interesting, even when she has ties to Shido in that her father was killed as a form of bait. It is not her appearing too late in the story that is the problem. The problem is that she stays characterized as a kind woman that hardly does much to make the character chemistry of the Phantom Thieves more interesting. It would have been dope to see Haru use her advantageous position in the Okumura Foods company to give Phantom Thieves a luxurious food party after changing the hearts of criminals, a righteous prize just like how Haru takes the group to Disney World. She could have played the additional role of being an experimental drink sever that she shares with her friends (given her growing skills a coffee maker), sort of like how Chie and Yukiko experiment with cooking with horrible results. But nope, she is just there, only being seriously talkative when it comes to investigations and Palaces. At the least, her confidant is decent and intriguing enough, with her having to deal with taking over the company and taking care of her ****ty fiance. I think Haru is a character with so many missed opportunities.
Akechi: I enjoyed Akechi a lot, at least from his first serious interaction with Joker to the part where he gets outsmarted by the Thieves. I was spoiled of him being the traitor, so the most I could do was observe how the game characterizes Akechi to make him not suspicious at all. The game did a really good job at hiding Akechi’s true nature, mostly because he seemed like the only person that was willing to make some thought provoking conversations. I think what could have made his betrayal better is by simply giving Akechi more bubbly and fun interactions with the main cast, more of that silliness like how Akechi blew up in his mouth for eating the spiciest takoyaki ball during the school festival at an earlier point in the story. That said, as good as the concealing of Akechi’s character was, the last moments in Shido’s palace was underwhelming. Akechi becomes too crazy of a maniac in battle, overly dramatic to the point where it became awkward. At the least, his arc closed well at the point where Akechi learns of Shido’s plans to get rid of the detective at a certain point. That moment was thought provoking and made me think hard about the morals of people in power. So yeah, I think Akechi was cool, though his arc did not conclude in the best way.
Other stand-out characters include Sojiro and Sae, though I do not have much to say about them. I liked how Sojiro grew from being neutral towards Joker to a person caring of the character as the story progressed. Sojiro is a chill cool dude. Sae was pretty good as well, though I wish there were more hints and scenes that show her struggles of proving a case to people of higher power (whom never intended to give Sae a chance to shine or be rewarded rightfully in the first place). As far as side-character confidants go, they are all good and distinct with well fleshed out arcs. My favorite side-confidants definitely has to be Yoshida and Ms. Kawakami. Yoshida was the 1st confidant I maximized and seeing him grow to one that sees the arrest of Joker as injustice was incredibly moving. I wished I could have seen the results of the election by the end of the game though, I was cheering him on whenever he contacted me about the election for prime minister. I liked Kawakami a lot just for how her confidant slowly unveils the truth behind Kawakami’s second job of being a maid. The issues she has with parents after a student she teached at an earlier point in life died in an accident was pretty heartbreaking. Her Mementos mission was one of the very few that I actually cared to accomplish to stop the financial issues she was dealing with. The side-confidants were definitely more memorable than Persona 4’s.
Overall, I enjoyed Persona 5 a lot. I greatly prefer Persona 4’s characters, but I enjoy most of Persona 5’s story. It was close to being an all-time favorite game for me until the last portion of the overarching plot. Great game design (at least in terms of the school life management side of things) and miles better presentation. If I am honest with you, I do not think I will be buying Persona 5 Royal when it releases. Unless there are a large amount of adjustments to characterization and exploration of characters like Haru, Yusuke, and Makoto, plot changes in the endgame, and changes to dungeons that drag on too long (like Kamoshida’s and Shido’s Palaces), I do not think I would be willing to spend an entire month Persona 5 again. I think I am satisfied with completing Persona 5 once as is. Still, Persona 5 definitely was a JRPG worth playing.
