Persona 5 Royal

 

Persona 5 was a game I tried on a complete whim. I had obviously played both Persona dancing games on the PlayStation 4 and realised that 2017’s Persona 5 heralded as one of the greatest JRPGs of all-time had been given an update with the new Royal edition. So I immediately headed over to Amazon, saw the game was 49.99 (with a steelbook), ensured with my partner it was ok for me to spend so much money on a game I may not have even liked and finally ordered the game right then and there. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this decision to buy a game based solely from what I new from friends and from the two dancing games I’d played before has arguably changed the way I look at and critique games from now on. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think I was going to hate Persona 5, but never in a million years did I believe I would love it as much as I do today.

The idea of becoming a high school student during the day and a dungeon crawler by night didn't land with me as well as it should have and I think most people upon hearing what Persona 5 is would also just shrug at the idea. Retrospectively though, I realise how prejudiced I was being because my god this idea works brilliantly. You play as a self-named male character who is sent to Tokyo by his parents after being punished for a crime he did not commit. The protagonist is sent to Shujin Academy and on his first day at school, he and fellow student Ryuji end up inside a mysterious castle. Funnily enough the Castle is placed right where the school should be and the king of said castle happens to be a Shujin teacher known as Kamoshida. This first segment introduces the player to Persona 5’s dungeons which have been called palaces. Each palace demonstrates how the ruler views the original site and this concept is so perfect I am actually surprised no other game has tried this idea before. So, during the evening you and your team of Phantom Thieves must break into these palaces and steal the ruler’s desires. These are usually treasures found at the top or centre of the palaces and once retrieved, the ruler should have a change of heart that causes them to confess to their crimes. This all sounds really complicated but the game explains all this so naturally that it never becomes intrusive or overwhelming. Kamoshida’s palace is the best way I can show how these palaces work and why they work so well. Kamoshida himself is a complete perv who gawks at all the female students including one called Ann that becomes a member of your team early on. He also abuses the members of his sports teams when they do wrong or do not perform to his level. These sides of Kamoshida are demonstrated through the personas Joker and the other Phantom Thieves will fight in his palace. Female personas are plentiful, young, and innocent showing the type of girls that Kamoshida preys on. A devil looking mini boss later in the palace reflects the evil within the palace’s ruler, another genius way that the Atlas team prove to the player that Kamoshida is wholly unlikable. Every palace in the game has this attention to detail and it is a testament to the developer’s ability to make Persona’s world feel cohesive and complete. 

 

Persona’s combat is turn-based with several new functions that break the stereotypical formula. For starters, each character in your party (four in total that can be switched out at your discretion) has their own persona except for Joker who's a jack of all trades and can wield multiple personas at any time. The decision to go into battle with any of your teammates obviously means that someone is being left behind, and with that their personas. Leaving behind personas with healing attributes or specific magic attacks can be punishing so the decisions you make on which party members will join you are very important. Along with a persona, each character has a basic melee attack and a gun that at the very least gives the player a variety of options to choose from in battle. After downing every opponent in battle, you then have a choice to question your foes in order to extract items, money, or the personas you’ve been fighting. This addition to the combat creates a great inner choice within he player because while money are items are both great for the obvious reasons, collecting the personas will likely allow you to use more powerful attacks and complete the persona compendium. These personas can also be combined or sacrificed in The Velvet Room, demonstrating the plethora of options at the player's disposal.  The battle system and various practises are best tested in Mementos which acts as a side quest hub for the game. During the daytime, the PhanSite is constantly updated with requests asking the Phantom Thieves to change someone’s hearts. These people are not deserving of a palace of their own so instead get placed in Mementos where the player can complete them at their own leisure.

 

The other side of the Persona coin is the life simulator aspect and it is arguably just as investing and deep as the dungeon crawling. The player has 5 social stats that can all be levelled be completing various activities relevant to that stat. These social stats help access various confidant ranks which is the other half of what you do in Persona 5 when you are not inside a palace. There are 22 confidants in the game, each with ten ranks meaning that you are going to have to invest a serious amount of time just to max a few of them. Some are clearly far more useful than others and any Phantom Thieves should be maxed as soon as possible because at rank ten, their persona evolves into a far more powerful version. That is not to say that other confidants are not important too though. Hifumi, Kawakami and Takemi all grant the player some interesting bonuses so should be considered on an initial playthrough. What I took away most from these confidants though, were the stories within them. I could gush about this game’s writing forever, but it really shines within many of these confidants. Ann, Sojiro, Futaba and Maruki are just some of my favourites because they tell deep stories about the characters and allow the player to get to know them Some are tragic others are heart-warming and they never becomes tedious. The player will probably spend most of their time playing Persona 5 in conversations and thankfully the developers did a great job making them feel like real interactions. The fact that any of the female confidants can be romanced is another little feature that makes you feel like you’re in control which is never a bad thing.

 

The most impressive aspect of Persona 5 to me though was the story. I never expected to be a gripped, as entertained, or as excited as I was during the narrative of this game. I know we have already discussed Kamoshida and his palace, but the other palace rulers are also great villains and themes like vigilantism, righteousness and justice raise doubt within the Phantom Thieves and the player. I really don’t want to spoil a lot of P5’s plot because it is that good but there are so many brilliant moments. It’s really tough talking about the plot because it’s so involved and you just need to experience it four yourselves in order to really get any of it. I am happy that the game held back on making it too Japanese though. What I basically mean is that there are a lot of Japanese elements in the plot that do not bog it down because the more westernised aspects create a nice balance. It just works and with the Royal content the game will take you over a hundred hours so the value for money certainly isn’t a problem.

 

The last thing we should talk about is the added content to the Royal edition of the game. Three new confidants add even more side stories with two eventually being integral to the main narrative. After finishing up the base game, the protagonist will be tasked with completing one final palace and it honestly feels like a better finale than the base game. The main villain is honestly far more layered than any other in the game and asks questions of the player that may dissuade you from entering the final battle. The final battle itself if fairly underwhelming though which is seriously one of my only gripes with the game. The ending follows swiftly after that and it feels both solemn and satisfying. The player essentially says goodbye to these characters that they’ve considered their friends for over a hundred hours and I find it to be a fitting conclusion to the narrative. The added showtime moves which can be performed during battle are cool too.

So that in a nutshell is Persona 5 Royal. This review is way longer than it needed to be and I already know there is so much I have left out. The simplest way I can out it is that Persona 5 Royal is now one of my favourite games of all time and I’d recommend it to anyone. It has great combat system tat feels rewarding and an evolution of the formula, a great narrative with twists and turns galore, and terrific presentation that I have barely touched upon. The game looks awesome and oozes style. The music which I talked about in my Dancing in Starlight review Is perfect and matches the tone and mood of the game. The tracks added in Royal are also all great with the final boss theme being even better than the one for the base game’s final boss. It is not perfect with the fifth palace being a particular low-point, but in a genre full of incredible experiences, Persona 5 Royal is one of the best of the lot.

Rating: It stole my heart

10/10