First 16 Hours of Persona 5


Anxiety.

Despite all the praise that I can muster up for Persona 5, the game keeps me coming back to this one word. Even with the ever-so-slick style, the way all the game mechanics mesh with each other, and even the way the characters are written, I can't shake this feeling. There's just too much to do in Persona 5.

Persona 5 comes from a long running Atlus RPG series: Shin Megami Tensei. While there are many mainline SMT games, Persona was an offshoot that focused on a modern and realistic Japanese setting with teenage slice-of-life mixed in. However, even the Persona series delved into worlds of fantasy. There are always two worlds you switched between: the real world, where you go to school and investigate the weird events going on around town, and the "other" world which housed the dungeons and combat. The general idea is to build relationships with people and friends in the real world to make your team stronger so that you can fight enemies in the "other" world. The "other" world is inconsistent between Persona games, so it's hard to describe the general purpose. In Persona 5, the game deals with desires and perception. So the "other world" is actually a parallel universe that houses people's desires in physical manifestations. The villains in the game are people who secretly do evil deeds while keeping it hidden from the public lime-light. However, their twisted perception of themselves and others is revealed in the "other" world in the form of palaces. Players then fight through palaces to find the item that causes the villain to be the way they are. After stealing the item, the villain in the real world confesses their crimes and gives themselves up to the police.
Almost half of your time in the beginning of the game will be in school.
The three Persona games I'm familiar with (Persona 3,4, and 5) all have a calendar system that consists of one year.  In that time, you will complete the game. But how you actually complete the game is up to you.

In Persona 5, all the systems work together. To become stronger, you need to build up relationships with friends. To make more friends you have to work on yourself and build your own character. To build your own character you have to spend time doing mundane things like studying, working a part-time job, going to the gym, or even watching movies. Not to mention that working on the main objective and side-quests will also cut into your time. The dungeons in this game are long and to complete them in the most efficient way possible, you must stock up on items and equipment. But items cost money, and sometimes you need to work for the money to purchase those items since re-visiting a dungeon isn't always the best use of time. Building friendships and leveling up also help you create more powerful Persona (the entities you use to fight). It's imperative to spend each day to it's maximum potential.


But the other half of the game you'll be dressed up as a catburglar in Palaces... 

The whole cyclic nature of the game is great, don't get me wrong. It works seamlessly and makes everything feel important. But to someone like me, I can't stop getting this sense of paralysis. Every day I have to plan out what I am going to do because once the day is gone, I can't get it back. Choices matter a lot on how you progress in the game and how difficult the game will be later on. Not to mention there are bonuses for doing certain activities on certain days (like studying when it's raining) and some activities are better than others.

And time marches on...

Though the game isn't very "open world," it is very open with how you spend your time. The loading screen even says, "Take Your Time," seeming to emphasize the importance of decisions in the game. The game is long, I'm sixteen hours in and barely started the second dungeon. I have no idea how far I have left to go, but I'm still being introduced to new mechanics.

The character stats - I don't know. but milquetoast needs to be incorporated into my vocabulary

Once I overcame the initial wave of overwhelming decision making, however, the game had me hooked. I still know I'm utterly inefficient and just generally bad at managing my time, but the game still has a lot of charm and style that beckons me to pick up the controller once more. Persona never shies away form mature topics that a lot of games never come close to discussing. The first part of the game is about a coach who physically abuses his athletes and entraps the kids in the school to keep their mouth shut. Anime and JRPGs may exaggerate a lot but this game is very relatable, even to a Western audience.


Hopefully...someday...I'll play a game that doesn't take over sixty hours to complete :(.

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