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StarTopic Persona 5 Royal |ST| It's Time to Unveil the Hype You've Been Waiting For

Is this your first time playing Persona 5?

  • This will be my first time playing Persona 5 in any form

    Votes: 62 36.7%

  • First time playing Royal, I have played the original Persona 5

    Votes: 46 27.2%

  • This is the first time I have played ANY mainline Persona game

    Votes: 36 21.3%

  • I have played Persona 5 and Royal before, I am replaying it on Switch

    Votes: 25 14.8%
  • Total voters
    169
Shinespark said:
So I'm 15 hours into the game thus far and I have two questions: 1) how come no one told me this game follows the Xenoblade model of endless tutorials with new mechanics, lol and 2) how do you get your Kindness up?
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I think kindness can be improved by taking care of your plants and reading some books
menx64 said:
Welcome to megaten. Just hace fun as much as you want, and if you feel like you missed out on something play again.
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if I find out that I missed something important in this game after playing 70hs, I'll never look at it again.
 
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Woo, third palace down! Just in time to put the game on the backburner for a few days to play that new Splat3 update.
 
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125 hours? I'll never finish it!
Is it still worth playing even if I make it no more than half way through?
 
efyu_lemonardo said:
125 hours? I'll never finish it!
Is it still worth playing even if I make it no more than half way through?
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It's an amazing game no matter how much you play of it, but it is also episodically structured, and designed so you can play over longer periods. There is a built in story recap feature, the major plot beats are constantly reinforced, and every arc is like a new "episode" so the story breaks down into neat little chunks. I think you playing half of it is better than you playing none of it, but I also do think you should play the entirety, and that the game especially makes it really easy for you to invest that time into it. That, plus I also think that once you start it, you are going to end up seeing it through regardless because you won't be able to drop it lol

SirArthur said:


Cant wait for the fiscal to mentioned they were surprise by the sales.
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Switch and Steam doing the work
 
This final dungeon to the original P5 fucking sucks. It feels like they made the final palace, forgot that they had other story arcs they didn't wrap up, had some intern design a bunch of walking puzzles, and they copy pasted over and over again to create one last dungeon.
 
HockeyBird said:
This final dungeon to the original P5 fucking sucks. It feels like they made the final palace, forgot that they had other story arcs they didn't wrap up, had some intern design a bunch of walking puzzles, and they copy pasted over and over again to create one last dungeon.
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Yeah, it's pretty meh all things considered. Mercifully, it's also really short, it's the shortest dungeon in the game, so at least there is that.
 
Phantom Thief said:
Yeah, it's pretty meh all things considered. Mercifully, it's also really short, it's the shortest dungeon in the game, so at least there is that.
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Yeah it’s so short it never bothered me, barely enough to even be called a dungeon. And everything that comes afterward is SO GOOD that I forgive it.

Although I have heard horror stories of people who never touched mementos suddenly having to plow through the entire thing at once to beat the game in which case… RIP, especially in the base game
 
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I'm over 150 hours into this game and I'm in late January.

My refusing to fast travel often and my NPC dialogue hunts definitely are bloating my playtime. (I'm playing this like a Trails/Kiseki game where I need to see EVERY line of dialogue possible.)

In my defense... the game always rewards me with new eavesdroppable dialogue in one of the areas almost daily!
 
Lukus99 said:
After a bit of a break I've moved on to Strikers - so far I'm having a lot of fun even if I do miss the life sim aspects. I'm really enjoying spending more time with these characters and would honestly even love a 3rd game with the same cast.

Is the Persona 5 Anime any good? I might watch that as a final hurrah when all is said and done.
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no, unless you like Akechi, then the Proof of Justice OVA is worth a watch
 
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BradenAndEggs said:
I'm over 150 hours into this game and I'm in late January.

My refusing to fast travel often and my NPC dialogue hunts definitely are bloating my playtime. (I'm playing this like a Trails/Kiseki game where I need to see EVERY line of dialogue possible.)

In my defense... the game always rewards me with new eavesdroppable dialogue in one of the areas almost daily!
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Playing it this way is SO IMMERSIVE though, so I can't blame you haha
 
Finally finished it at 160ish hours.

Hot damn. Might be my new favorite game. I already have separation anxiety so I'm gonna be starting P5S pretty soon...
 
I went to see one of the people I needed (that junior detective) to advance in order to get the true ending but I couldn't since I didn't have some requirements.
that sucks.

But the game in general is fantastic. Played for 33hs in one week and I'm planning to play even more in the next seven days.
I'm about to enter the third castle (already been there and had a couple of battles but now I'll start exploring it).
 
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Guaraná said:
I went to see one of the people I needed (that junior detective) to advance in order to get the true ending but I couldn't since I didn't have some requirements.
that sucks.

But the game in general is fantastic. Played for 33hs in it in one week and I'm planning to play even more in the next seven days.
I'm about to enter the third castle (already been there with and had a couple of battles but now I'll start exploring it).
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Don’t worry, he’ll show up again later lol. Glad you were able to get over the FOMO anxiety with the options the game provides!
 
Picked it up half price on the Black Friday sale... I played vanilla on PS4 just a couple years ago so wasn't sure if I'd ge tinto it. Lo and behold I'm already ten hours in and starting chapter 2. Really digging a lot of the new features and QOL stuff, makes it a much smoother and more interesting experience so far. Ammo refills after every battle, hallelujah.
 
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BradenAndEggs said:
Off topic:

After finishing P5R I'm stoked for P3P/P4G and I really, really hope there is some sort of 11th-hour physical edition...
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P4G may or may not be better than P5R, so you are in for a treat there.

I wish they'd do a physical release too, at least do a combined one on Switch and PS, where they're guaranteed to sell a minimum amount. They're not even doing this in Japan, which is honestly shocking to me.
 
Phantom Thief said:
P4G may or may not be better than P5R, so you are in for a treat there.

I wish they'd do a physical release too, at least do a combined one on Switch and PS, where they're guaranteed to sell a minimum amount. They're not even doing this in Japan, which is honestly shocking to me.
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I've played P4G and P3P on Vita and P4G was one of my 10 favorite games (it's now been replaced by P5R...) I've been (impatiently) waiting this whole time for P5 to have a portable option lol

I wonder if Atlus could do an Atlus store exclusive or something like that? I feel like they wouldn't bother with limited-run games or any of those options...
 
BradenAndEggs said:
I've played P4G and P3P on Vita and P4G was one of my 10 favorite games (it's now been replaced by P5R...) I've been (impatiently) waiting this whole time for P5 to have a portable option lol

I wonder if Atlus could do an Atlus store exclusive or something like that? I feel like they wouldn't bother with limited-run games or any of those options...
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Oh awesome lol. I am actually still going back and forth on whether I like P5R more or P4G. I think I have far more fondness and nostalgia for P4G, but P5R is just such an overwhelmingly better designed game (than most games, actually) that I don't know how long I can hold out lol.

Anyway, yeah, Atlus wouldn't do LRG or anything like that. I think the only way we get to see physical versions of these is if Atlus decides to do them, and, well, Atlus is very stubborn lol
 
Phantom Thief said:
Oh awesome lol. I am actually still going back and forth on whether I like P5R more or P4G. I think I have far more fondness and nostalgia for P4G, but P5R is just such an overwhelmingly better designed game (than most games, actually) that I don't know how long I can hold out lol.

Anyway, yeah, Atlus wouldn't do LRG or anything like that. I think the only way we get to see physical versions of these is if Atlus decides to do them, and, well, Atlus is very stubborn lol
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I've felt the same about P4G being such a great untouchable experience, and it may be recency bias but P5R's more... impactful (for lack of a better word) presentation in key moments sends it over the edge for me I think.

It's not ahead of P4G by much, but the "modern" design choices really put it there for me.
 
Guaraná said:
GEEEEEEZ !!
just realized your username is P5-related!

and yeah the game is great, I'm at work and I can't stop thinking about getting back to is as soon as I get home.
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Same, I'm 25 hours into the game and it's been great! Also, this game has raised many questions about Shin Megami Tensei V, a game that I got 60 hours into and will probably never finish now.
 
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I think P4G has the better characters and more compelling narrative, but P5R's hand made dungeons (instead of procedurally generated) and overall presentation are better. So it's a tough call between which of the two is "better" -- they're both 10/10 JRPGs to me.
 
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I can already tell SP usage is going to be a problem for me in palace 4. Gotta load up on items to restore that stuff.
 
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Ok I'm done with Persona 5 Strikers now - I enjoyed it but I think it was spending more time with the cast of characters again. It's a bit weird playing it after Royal because they don't reference anything that happened in that last semester. I would 100% recommend for anyone who loved the cast of P5R and if you don't like the action combat you can always knock it down to easy.

It felt to me like the motivations for EMMA in Strikers and Maruki in Royal were very similar (stop mankind hurting by taking away their ability to either desire anything or to remember pain). So I feel the story in Strikers would have been better for me had I not just played Royal.
 
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Phantom Thief said:
Now in the Royal semester, this shit is some of the best content the medium as a whole has ever managed to put out
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I was a LITTLE (very very little) let down at the lack of new things to do if you'd already capped your stats and social links, but overall the new semester is fantastic. And I can see why it is the way it is given the length and structure of it.

The initial "whoa what is going on, everyone has their greatest wishes granted!" part was a bit obvious but well-done, and especially gut-wrenching for someone like Futaba and Sojiro. And then the part when Akechi gets to be navigator is just... SO good. I did a complete 180 on his character in this game, and I LOVE that they managed to make him survive (kinda?) and come back to the party and still be in the game, but also didn't redeem him in any way, which I was really afraid they would try to do. He's still a psychopath who deserves to be in jail, but he joins you for very specific reasons that make complete sense for his character, and the fact that he's only alive due to Maruki making it that way temporarily makes the moral quandary much easier to swallow.

I also loved the Kasumi twist, as it does something very clever that I never would have predicted in a million years, but also is well seeded throughout. It also is a wonderful blending of character and in-game mechanics: She always seems so cheerful, overly 'perfect', and friendly, almost to the point of being fake/artificial in the base game, and then you realize it's because she's literally changed herself to be the ideal version of her sister she had in her mind and that makes complete sense. Mechanically, you can't go beyond Rank 5 with her because while you do get to know her, you can never really go beyond superficial friends because everything deeper and more 'real' about her is locked away behind the 'spell'. (That said I'm not a HUGE fan of Kasumi overall, and find her to be pretty middle-of-the-pack character-wise in this game, but this twist is still great)

And finally, I love how Maruki plays with the themes of the game. In the base game, the main theme was basically "you have to stand up for yourself and take responsibility to do what's right, calling out injustice and helping those weaker than you, and not let yourself become complacent and rely too much on 'great men' and others, etc. to fix everything that's wrong with the world. And in the base game, Yaldobaoth is basically taking everyone's free will away so that it can be in total control and let everyone abdicate responsibility to it, in a perverse way to make people happy and remove discord and strife by making them mindless robots more or less. Yaldobaoth is obviously evil and has to be stopped, it's not even a question. But then in Royal, it takes that and asks "Okay, but what if someone else did basically the same thing, but with very good intentions, and was also a good person who might actually make the world better by doing so? Can you still stick to your convictions about personal responsibility and free will in the face of that?" And even though what Maruki's doing feels WRONG, you can kind of see the appeal of it, and know why he's doing it; after all, if you didn't actually KNOW he was doing this, wouldn't it be better to just live your life in his new world? He's such a good antagonist and shake-up from the villains of the main game.

I could keep going, but yeah, Royal is a wonderful game and the final semester adds so many great wrinkles and extra stuff to an already amazing game.
 
SammyJ9 said:
I was a LITTLE (very very little) let down at the lack of new things to do if you'd already capped your stats and social links, but overall the new semester is fantastic. And I can see why it is the way it is given the length and structure of it.

The initial "whoa what is going on, everyone has their greatest wishes granted!" part was a bit obvious but well-done, and especially gut-wrenching for someone like Futaba and Sojiro. And then the part when Akechi gets to be navigator is just... SO good. I did a complete 180 on his character in this game, and I LOVE that they managed to make him survive (kinda?) and come back to the party and still be in the game, but also didn't redeem him in any way, which I was really afraid they would try to do. He's still a psychopath who deserves to be in jail, but he joins you for very specific reasons that make complete sense for his character, and the fact that he's only alive due to Maruki making it that way temporarily makes the moral quandary much easier to swallow.

I also loved the Kasumi twist, as it does something very clever that I never would have predicted in a million years, but also is well seeded throughout. It also is a wonderful blending of character and in-game mechanics: She always seems so cheerful, overly 'perfect', and friendly, almost to the point of being fake/artificial in the base game, and then you realize it's because she's literally changed herself to be the ideal version of her sister she had in her mind and that makes complete sense. Mechanically, you can't go beyond Rank 5 with her because while you do get to know her, you can never really go beyond superficial friends because everything deeper and more 'real' about her is locked away behind the 'spell'. (That said I'm not a HUGE fan of Kasumi overall, and find her to be pretty middle-of-the-pack character-wise in this game, but this twist is still great)

And finally, I love how Maruki plays with the themes of the game. In the base game, the main theme was basically "you have to stand up for yourself and take responsibility to do what's right, calling out injustice and helping those weaker than you, and not let yourself become complacent and rely too much on 'great men' and others, etc. to fix everything that's wrong with the world. And in the base game, Yaldobaoth is basically taking everyone's free will away so that it can be in total control and let everyone abdicate responsibility to it, in a perverse way to make people happy and remove discord and strife by making them mindless robots more or less. Yaldobaoth is obviously evil and has to be stopped, it's not even a question. But then in Royal, it takes that and asks "Okay, but what if someone else did basically the same thing, but with very good intentions, and was also a good person who might actually make the world better by doing so? Can you still stick to your convictions about personal responsibility and free will in the face of that?" And even though what Maruki's doing feels WRONG, you can kind of see the appeal of it, and know why he's doing it; after all, if you didn't actually KNOW he was doing this, wouldn't it be better to just live your life in his new world? He's such a good antagonist and shake-up from the villains of the main game.

I could keep going, but yeah, Royal is a wonderful game and the final semester adds so many great wrinkles and extra stuff to an already amazing game.
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So I wasn't actually let down at the lack of new stuff to do exclusive to the new semester, because a) I viewed it as more time to get the existing stuff done and b) P5R does add new activities (like the Darts/Pool games, the temple, the jazz club), they're just accessible earlier on, rather than being locked exclusively to the last 30 days, which I honestly feel is better. But I do get why there may have been an initial "aww that's a bummer" response there haha.

Now, Akechi. I agree with you almost word for word on this. I was not a fan of Akechi at all in the base game, I love what they do with him in Royal. Part of this is that his new Social Link helps immensely in fleshing him out as a character (where in vanilla, the social link functions more for plot progression than as characterization), but mostly it's because of how he is handled in the Royal semester. He's basically a full on edgelord, a total psychopath, and it's fucking hilarious. The game makes no bones about it, it even pokes fun at it itself. I love edgelord Akechi, and I especially love that, yes, there was no attempt made to redeem him. He's still a person who made many bad choices, and there are no excuses made for that. His partnership with the PTs is also handled in a way that it doesn't feel contrived, which was the one thing I was worried about the most before I played Royal.

Kasumi... so I hated the Kasumi twist initially. It's just so bizarre and so outlandish, you know? On this playthrough, I was able to swallow it a bit better (presumably because of the jarring dissonance coming from my "wtf" reaction is now out of the way so I can deal with it for what it is), but I have to be honest, I am still not hugely sold on it. Like I get the whole personal dissociation thing they are going for, it is just handled in the most anime way possible (even for Persona), and feels like a rare miss to me where almost everything else the game does is so great.

Maruki, however, fucking hell, he's incredible. All time great villain, even calling him a villain feels wrong. Because here's the thing, it's actually not clear he is wrong. He's created a world where everyone can be happy, and no one suffers. You are actively fighting against this. And, like, I am aware, academically, that it is right to go against him in this case, because as you point out, the whole theme of Persona 5 is to take charge of your own life and take back your future. The bulk of P5 deals with it by pitting you against evil actors who want to take away your agency to further their interests. Maruki takes away your agency to further your happiness, and there's a very strong case to be made that there is nothing wrong with that. After all, look at the state of the world right now - would giving up the ability to "choose for yourself" be the worst thing if homelessness, poverty, slavery, racism, war, famine, disease, all this came to an end? The world would be a better, happier place, right? And that's the genius of Maruki, because he's not a villain, not in the traditional sense. He is actually right from a utilitarian point of view, and even when you ultimately take him down, there's this sense that you are giving up something in order to retain that agency and control. It's not a clean win. There's a case to be made you chose wrongly (the game itself actually sort of hints at this, the ending when you choose to accept Maruki's reality is far better produced than the ending where you reject him).

I just love the entire Maruki arc so much, because he's not evil. He's not even wrong. He's trying to minimize pain and suffering. You are actively going against that. The deftness with which this entire arc is handled is astonishing, and truly makes Maruki/The Royal arc some of the greatest writing and storytelling I have ever seen in a video game. Like, if this is the caliber of writing we can expect from this series going forward, under the stewardship of the new developers now that Hashino, Soejima, and Meguro have moved on, then the series is in amazing hands.

Amazing game, truly amazing, and honestly just the Royal arc is worth $60 in and of itself. The fact that it comes on top of a 100 hour epic that's already pitch perfect is just icing on the cake.

Also, the moment in Royal when I Believe first plays is still probably the single greatest moment in series' history (yes, that means better than P3's ending), because holy shit, what an amazing culmination, marked by the best usage of music I remember in games. What a song. What a moment. What a game.

Bravo.
 
Fourth palace done. Got Faith to level 5, but I am a bit worried about Counselor. I have him at level 5, but school is out for the Summer. Is there still plenty of time to level him up to 9 when school resumes?
 
EvilChameleon said:
Fourth palace done. Got Faith to level 5, but I am a bit worried about Counselor. I have him at level 5, but school is out for the Summer. Is there still plenty of time to level him up to 9 when school resumes?
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More than enough time, he's basically available every day once school resumes (plus his Social Link is very easy to advance, it's not like Sojiro's which can take days of hanging out to advance one rank)
 
Just listening to Gentle Madman for the 10’000th time nbd. Shout out to ATLUS for having quite a few of their soundtracks up on Apple Music, also!
 
Since this is the closest thing we have to a "Persona General" (I didn't look that hard for one lol):

Looks like preorders for P3P and P4G are up.
www.nintendo.com

Persona 3 Portable for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Persona 3 Portable and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com
www.nintendo.com

Persona 4 Golden for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Persona 4 Golden and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

 
Futaba

Easy battle where the enemies do no damage to you and they all die in one hit? Well here's a speed buff.
Prolonged, difficult battle where party members have gone down a few times already? No show for the entire thing.
 
BradenAndEggs said:
Since this is the closest thing we have to a "Persona General" (I didn't look that hard for one lol):

Looks like preorders for P3P and P4G are up.
www.nintendo.com

Persona 3 Portable for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Persona 3 Portable and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com
www.nintendo.com

Persona 4 Golden for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Persona 4 Golden and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

Click to expand...

Fuck yes. The second I unwrap some eshop cards over the holidays, these are getting purchased. It’s gonna be a Persona Winter
 
I started PS5 Strikers (on switch) and P5R menus are way sharper. Also the button configuration is messing me up lol.
 
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