 Persona 5. This has been Atlas's baby for the past almost half decade at this point. Yeah, instead of announcing Persona 6 like the fans want, they've decided to re-release this game for the third time in a row, this time for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC. I personally think you'd have to be a complete idiot to buy the exact same game three separate times. Thankfully, I bought this game six times instead. I originally played this game back in 2017 when it was released just as Persona 5 for PS4, and it was a good game. It was an engaging RPG, probably one of the best ones on the system. And the longest. I mean, holy shit, it took me like 70 hours to beat it. I certainly hope it's good if it's gonna take me that much time to beat. Fast forward to now, and they're re-releasing the new Royal Edition, which is basically the same game but has different gameplay features, balancing, added characters, and new story content. And it's over 100 hours long, making it probably the longest game I've ever played. It's ridiculous. So with this new release, you might be thinking, is this game still worth picking up in the current year? Maybe you've already played it before, or maybe you've never played it before in your life and you have an itch for a new adventure game. Well, I'm here to tell you that Persona 5 is probably one of the most unique games ever made. It's a really fun and engaging turn-based RPG, one of the last remaining ones keeping the genre alive, which I really appreciate. But what makes the game series so unique and probably the biggest selling point to most people isn't the dungeon crawling or the battles, but the fact that half of the game is just you experiencing mundane life as a high schooler, just doing normal things that a person does in their daily life. And in an industry where every single game that releases is some action-packed over-the-top adventure, having a system where half the game is just you managing your time and doing things like working a part-time job for money, or hanging out with your friends after school, that's enough to set this game apart. And this concept really caught on compared to Alice's other games. Maybe a lot of people were just never very popular in high school, and this lets them have a second shot at life. Well if so, you'd be disappointed to know that in this game you play as a glasses-wearing delinquent who's treated like shit by everyone because he pushed some random ball guy in an alleyway, so you're not exactly popular. In this game you are a phantom thief who enters the minds of evil people to fight their demons and change their personality. I've always really liked how this franchise blends together a slice of life storyline with the more supernatural elements like this. The two complement each other really well and make for an amazing gameplay loop. You go into these palaces to steal distorted desires, and you do this with your ragtag group of societal outcasts to meet over the course of the story who all have their own little character arc that they go through. I think the characters in this game are alright, their interactions seem genuine enough. You can hang out with them and you do things like texting each other in class while the teachers aren't looking, which is very realistic portrayal of school. Though only a few of them really stand out to me, and they don't really feel like they're friends with each other. They're just constantly being like genuine assholes to each other for no reason at all. It's kinda weird honestly. And remember this is a JRPG, so of course there is the obligatory annoying talking animal sidekick in the form of Morgana, the cat man who follows you into the real world and comments on literally everything you do acting sorta like the protagonist inner voice. Morgana is a pretty chill companion honestly. There's just something endearing about sitting in your room watching romcom DVDs with a literal cat that's sitting upright. And this is also the only game where you can have a cat hide in your desk at school to help you cheat on your exams. He's alright in my book, though he has his moments that really make me cringe at times. One of the main gameplay elements in Persona 5 is of course the confidant system, where you have all these random characters throughout the city and you can hang out with them whenever they're available and progress their story. And within each story you have to respond to people's questions with the right responses to get more brownie points. And most of the time, this means you have to agree with some of these people's insane bullshit no matter how insane it is. And this is kinda teaching the wrong message here. With this system, the game has dozens of side stories that have huge benefits for players as you progress, giving me an actual good reason to commit to them. And speaking of commitment, you can actually date any of the girls in the game, which is a very cool feature. You may be wondering which girl in Persona 5 is the best one to date. Is it on? Or maybe Makoto? Look, I'll just cut to the chase. It's Haru. And it's not just because of her looks, or even her personality. Haru is the best girl in this game for one reason, and one reason only. She's rich. Think about it. If you get with Haru, you will be good. She will take care of you, she's like a billionaire. Although unfortunately you have to have Mak's proficiency to even be worthy of looking in her general direction. Yeah, the women in this game are so judgmental and picky. They don't want to be caught dead with you in public unless you have some arbitrary stat level up to a certain point, which is why you find yourself doing odd jobs, reading tons of books, and scarfing down gigantic cheeseburgers. You literally do all this just for the chance to walk home with one of them. Incredibly pathetic. I also do like the new character they added in the royal version, Kasumi. I think as far as forced bonus characters go, she's one of the best ones I've ever seen. I like her a lot. She has a really nice personality and is very likable. The other major part of Persona 5 is of course the palaces that pop up every month or so. Here you have to infiltrate and steal a person's treasure while avoiding or engaging enemy shadows. I'm someone who usually hates tacked on stealth mechanics in games where they are not needed, but I actually don't mind them here. You can take cover and sneak around corners to swiftly avoid being detected by enemies, and it's fun. I mean, don't expect something like Splinter Cell, you're just getting a system that works fine and does its job. The battles are turn based and enemies and players have type strengths and weaknesses, which can make battles very easy or harder times. The royal version is a lot easier though I think. I kind of hate how they gave players the baton pass move right at the beginning of the game where in the original you had to earn it by maxing out confidence. It's a little too easy for me. You fight using Personas, which are these screwed up looking monsters. Some of them are super weird looking honestly. This is like Pokemon if it aired on adult swim instead. Also, this game has really good bosses, mostly because of the boss theme, which is so good. Actually, all the music in this game is really great. There are so many different tracks, and they're also fitting for the situation you're in. Persona 5 just has a very strong visual and auditory style. The OSG has these jazzy tracks, and all the battle themes are really catchy, and then you have the graphics and UI, and it's like one of the nicest looking UIs I've ever seen. The main character does a back flip when you cycle through the menus. It's amazing. And the game also has these full anime cutscenes that are really great. The game's entire style is just fantastic. But now we talk about the things I don't like about Persona 5. There's this thing in the game called Mementos. It's basically a really long dungeon with countless floors that you can explore to grind faster. I hate Mementos so much. It is boring. The floors just never seem to end, and it is mandatory to complete the entire thing before finishing the game. In Mementos, you ride inside of Morgana. Pause. He literally transforms into a car and you drive him around the floor, and if you rub the PS4 touchpad, he starts purring through the controller, which is super weird. I also hate how every time the Phantom Thieves qualifies, you and your friends have to go out to celebrate and waste your money on some fancy restaurant. I wish you could just sell the treasure at the pawn shop and pocket all the money personally, but the game always makes you go out and spend your money on sushi or some shit. The game honestly could have used more meaningful choices, and this is really just a criticism j-repeges in general, because you have so many dialogue choices in this game that just do not affect the story. It's also weird how when you date a girl in the game, your relationship with her does not seem to affect the story whatsoever. They don't even acknowledge your relationship when you are on hanging out with them. It's like you're keeping it a secret from everyone, which is kind of odd. This is something the franchise really needs to work on. This game is full of amazing side stories that hardly ever intersect with the main story, and they could do a better job at this honestly. And the one thing I hate most about this game, the length. Persona 5 Royal takes over 100 hours to beat on average, so if you play this game an hour a day, it would take you months to beat it. This game is too damn long. It is literally one of the longest games I've ever played. It is just absurdly bloated. There's just too much long wind and dialogue. The game just drags everything out as much as possible. Every cutscene in the game has the characters explaining the same things over and over again. You will spend an exorbitant amount of time mashing through unnecessary dialogue. Some major plot points feel like they don't add to the story and could have just been left out. I think this game could have been like 40 hours shorter if they wanted it to be, and the story would have been exactly the same. Not to mention, the palaces feel like a slog to get through. Some of the later ones take hours to complete. Everything is just long for the sake of being long, and you honestly might get sick of the game before you finish it, so keep that in mind. So Persona 5. It's a good game. It's probably one of the best JRPGs of our time. I think it's worth getting even today. It's a little bit ridiculous that they're selling it for 60 bucks though. I mean, most 5 year old games hit the bargain button by now, but whatever. If you have Game Pass, it'll be free on there, so that's good at least. If you enjoyed this look at Persona 5 and want to know about some other RPGs too, you should check out this video right here. I think you'll enjoy it. See you there.