Closing The Final Chapter of Persona 5

*Takes a deep breath*
*Exhales*

Ever had those summers in high school or middle school where you'd spend every day outside or at a friend's house without any responsibilities? You'd make plans to go on trips, you'd go to the beach, go camping, have bonfires, play video games, and watch movies. You'd bond with your friends on a daily basis, you'd spend most of your other free time getting better at sports or learning new things. There'd be that crush you'd oh so desperately wanted to get closer to, but just never got the chance (or maybe you did for some of you). I know I'm missing a lot of stuff, but what I listed is pretty much the ideal summer  vacation. And while most of us never got to do all of those things, I'm sure most of us could relate to some of the things listed.

But summer vacation (according to my nostalgia) was always a bittersweet feeling. You got the freedom to really do whatever you wanted, but the calendar was your enemy; the hours ticking away until you inevitably had to go back to school. There would also be those frustrating parts of summer where all your friends would be out of town with their families and you'd be stuck sitting at home. And back then you'd never understand your parents because you felt like they wouldn't understand your appreciation of your free time. They would also never approve of the careless fun you'd have either (which would always suck).

The inhalation and exhalation I took at the beginning of this post was to signify that I have finally completed Persona 5. It took me almost three friggin' months and 110 hours to beat. That's literally an hour and fifteen minutes every day. While I have many, many good things to say about this game, I'm officially drained by it. The game took up not only my physical time, but it took a lot of mental energy as well. There are a lot of choices that affect gameplay, planning, and reading to do. It just takes a lot out of you at the end of it. I actually haven't been writing anything these days because of this game.
...It's almost like how I feel about summer vacation...

My previous post on Persona 5 covered most of the basics of what the game was about and how it played. And throughout the rest of the game, nothing in the game's mechanics really changed. While character development continued to impress me, the story's pacing was inconsistent and the introduction of new characters became more forced as time went on. In terms of pacing, it was also a bit inconsistent depending on how you played. The game's dungeons have a certain amount of time (usually a couple of weeks) allowed for completion. If you don't finish them in the time allowed, you have to start all over again from when the dungeon became available. But every dungeon can be completed 1-3 days meaning you have to spend the rest of your time outside of battling. I'd say that Persona is mostly a visual novel first with s substantial side of JRPG gameplay. You do A LOT of reading which is definitely not bad (for me), but it can be daunting for a lot of other people.

The story is good. And it would have been great if the story didn't have some weird ups and downs. Ironically, the summer vacation portion of the school year is by far the worst part of the game story-wise. It doesn't provide anything to the story and barely anything happens. The story picks back up later and provides a pretty cool,albeit cliche, finish.

The music also didn't change up much from what I was expecting. After hearing "Last Surprise" for about a thousand times, I kinda got over the unique jazz style the game had. However, I will have to say that the boss music always gets me pumped up every time.

I know this isn't a great review. I think I would have definitely loved this game more if I could have spent less time on it. But I needed to get this off my chest. I wanted to just say that it has been finished and I can move on with my life. I had the same feeling when completing the Witcher 3. Toward the end, I just wanted to know how it ended. I'm glad I stuck around with Persona 5 though, it definitely left me with a sense of sadness at the end. The kid in me wanted the game to keep going, but the adult in me was finally happy I could move on to other experiences.

If you played or are playing this game let me know what you think! Here's to summer vacations that never end.