This time, I'll be writing a spoiler-free review of Atlus's RPG, Persona 5 Royal (hereinafter referred to as "this game").
I played the Steam version (PC).
My completion time for the first playthrough was approximately 90 hours.
I cleared the game with all confidant relationships maxed out, using a walkthrough website as a reference.
Preface
The reason for playing
I started playing this game because the Steam version was released.
When this game was released for PS3 in 2016, I did not own a PS3 console.
I hesitated to buy a new console just for this game, so I kept putting it off, hoping to play it someday.
I played and enjoyed both Persona 3 and Persona 4, so I thought this game would be fun too.
However, after becoming a working adult, I started playing free games and indie games more often, and I was able to enjoy them quite a bit.
Also, I was worried about whether I would have enough time to complete the game, as it seemed like it would be quite long.
Due to these circumstances, I was interested in it but hadn't been able to take the plunge.
Amidst all this, in October 2022, what could be considered the complete version of the game began selling on Steam.
This eliminates the biggest obstacle: not owning the hardware. Now, the only remaining issue is whether I can find the time to play.
With the end of the year and the New Year holidays approaching, I decided to buy it because I figured I could somehow manage to play it all in one go.
Even though it was the PC version, it was difficult to play with just a keyboard, so I bought a gamepad.
Actually, until now I've been able to play free games and such using only a keyboard, but I've finally decided to buy one.
It had been a while since I'd held a console controller, since the PS2, but it really felt like I was playing on a real console.
As a side note, Steam now has a great selection of console games that I previously couldn't play because I didn't own the console, so I think I'll be playing them more often in the future.
Steam, in particular, has many titles I've been interested in for a long time, such as "Resident Evil RE:2," "Gnosia," and "Raging Loop," so I'm afraid that buying this game will make it impossible to stop myself from buying more.
Game Overview
I won't go into too much detail about the game's overview; I'll just give a brief summary.
This is an RPG set in modern-day Tokyo.
It's not set in the Middle Ages or a fantastical other world.
- You enter into people's mental worlds and fight against beings that are manifestations of their mental distortions.
Battles in RPGs take place within this mental world.
The enemies you fight against are referred to as "Shadows," which are distortions of the mind.
The main characters fight using the power of their hearts, called "Personas."
Personas aren't usable by everyone; in this game, only those who have awakened to a rebellious spirit that defies reality can use them.
You cannot fight Shadows unless you are a Persona user.
The protagonist is the only character who can possess multiple Personas. They can steal enemy Personas or fuse their existing Personas to create new ones.
・In daily life, students will engage in cooperative activities (interaction with collaborators) centered around school life, fostering various interpersonal relationships.
As you progress through the game and visit various locations, you will encounter and experience a variety of events.
As these cooperative activities progress, various benefits will be gained, giving you an advantage in the game.
The game's appeal lies in its immersive graphics, background music, and presentation, which create a sense of realism as if you were actually living in the game.
Since it's modeled after real-life areas, mainly Shibuya in Tokyo, it should be particularly familiar to people who live in that area.
Many of the effects and background music in combat are designed to evoke a sense of exhilaration, and care has been taken to ensure that players do not experience any stress.
That's a general overview of the game.
If you're curious about what the actual gameplay looks like, please check the official website or other sources.
Review (no spoilers)
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Playstyle
I will describe the play style I adopted for this game.
This game allows you to play through a second time while carrying over some of your save data.
However, since it was already known that it would take a long time to clear,I tried to play in a way that would allow me to complete various elements in a single playthrough.
Specifically, my goal was to max out all the confidant ranks, so I played through the game strictly according to a schedule, referring to strategy guides.
Normally, I tend to play through a game freely and casually on my first playthrough, but this time I tried to enjoy it as much as possible in just one playthrough.
Although the gameplay was somewhat restrictive, I was satisfied because I was able to see many events that I wouldn't have discovered on my own.
Also, there's DLC that allows you to summon a very powerful Persona from the start, but I decided not to use it.
However, I did use many of the accessories available through DLC.
It's not a feature that would break the game balance; it just makes things a little easier, so I thought it was okay.
story
It felt like a classic coming-of-age story, and I really enjoyed it.
Perhaps because I've gotten older, there are some lines that I find a little embarrassing, but it's not that I dislike them at all; rather, it brings back the feelings I had when I played the game in the past.
With such a lavish and well-crafted visual presentation, I realized there was no need to resort to any kind of gimmick in the storyline.
I played with absolutely no prior information, so I didn't know who my companions would be, which made it a fun and surprising experience.
Persona 4 was driven by its mystery elements, and this game also incorporates suspenseful elements, making you want to keep playing.
While there are some convenient plot developments, the style isn't one that prioritizes realism to begin with, and the pacing is good, so I have no complaints.
battle
The combat emphasized stylish presentation, making it a truly exhilarating experience.
The game is full of fun and engaging scenes that you'll want to watch again and again, such as the interactions between teammates, coordinated attacks, and cut-ins that appear when finishing off all-out attacks.
Just like in previous installments of the series, you can take on more actions by exploiting the enemy's weaknesses.
I feel the system has evolved, with features like shortcut keys for searching for skills that exploit weaknesses and "baton passing" to change the turn order among teammates.
The enemy will also act again if you exploit their weaknesses, so if you let your guard down, it's a very unforgiving game where it's game over very quickly.
However, even if you get a game over, you can immediately retry that battle, which is a thoughtful design.
Furthermore, players can now choose the difficulty level of the battles, which I think is a significant improvement.
I feel that it caters to a wide range of players, from casual players to hardcore combat enthusiasts.
While frequent battles can be tedious to fight each one manually, the AI allies handle things with minimal stress, making them very reliable.
They relentlessly exploit weaknesses when they can, and when they run out of weaknesses they can exploit, they reliably pass the baton to their teammates.
When encountering an enemy for the first time and not knowing its weaknesses, the game will try various elemental attacks, and in most cases, manual commands were unnecessary.
The boss battles featured many unique mechanics and were designed to keep players engaged and entertained.
There aren't many situations where you're instantly killed on your first try, so if you don't let your guard down, you should be able to defeat almost all bosses on your first attempt, with the exception of a few.
As you progress through the game, you acquire more useful skills, which can make the player's tactics feel a bit repetitive, but this isn't a major complaint.
Dungeon攻略
I often felt that the dungeon exploration was a bit tedious.
Each dungeon is fairly long, and the mechanics are essentially similar, so you gradually start to get bored.
However, my play style involved clearing dungeons in one go, whereas in a normal playthrough it would be done over several days. That might be why I felt that way.
The appearance and atmosphere change drastically from dungeon to dungeon, so I feel that they've made an effort to keep players engaged visually.
The dungeons you explore in the main game aren't procedurally generated random maps, so I think they've put in a lot more effort compared to previous series where that kind of thing continued endlessly.
Additionally, by progressing through certain Co-op activities, you can acquire abilities that allow you to instantly defeat enemies.
The ability to skip battles against weaker, more insignificant enemies clearly shows an effort to reduce stress in this area.
Due to the story's progression, there are times when a considerable amount of time passes between clearing one dungeon and entering the next.
It's different from RPGs where battles are the main focus, so I think it's more of an adventure-oriented RPG.
Players who want to engage in intense battles might find this a little frustrating.
Game system, etc.
Regarding personas
Regarding the Persona-related aspects, it's the same as previous games in the series, so I have no particular complaints.
When creating a Persona through fusion of multiple Personas, the feature that automatically summons and fuses already registered Personas at once, without having to manually call them up one by one, was very convenient.
The explanation of how to transfer skills was also clear and helpful.
However, the limited number of skills a single character can possess was a bit frustrating.
However, if it wasn't slightly lacking, the ability to switch between multiple personas wouldn't be useful, so I think this is unavoidable.
Having just one strong Persona is enough would certainly make the game less interesting.
I do think that switching between different Personas depending on the enemy is a cool, protagonist-like fighting style, and I understand why it's necessary.
Co-op related
I became quite engrossed in the event, wanting to push it forward as much as possible.
The closer you become to the target character, the more useful skills you'll acquire for strategy, and you'll also receive bonus EXP when creating Personas of that confidant's attribute.
Therefore, you can always maintain the motivation to become friends with others, which makes you want to rank up quickly.
Each time I participate in a co-op activity, it consumes my precious free time, which creates a dilemma because I have so many other things I want to do.
The amount your affection level increases will vary depending on the choices you make during events within the Co-op activities, and this will affect whether or not you rank up this time.
Since the time spent on each activity is so important, making the wrong choice can result in significant losses.
Because I don't want to fail, I end up relying on guides, so I think it would have been more relaxing if the game guaranteed a rank-up regardless of the choices I made (although some Moon and Sun confidant activities do rank up regardless of the quality of the choices).
Additionally, possessing a Persona with the same attribute as the target confidant activity will increase the amount of affection gained.
This also takes up space in the Persona slots, so I feel it would have been easier without it.
The desire to avoid wasting free time, to definitely rank up, and to avoid making the wrong choices and to increase affection levels definitely comes into play, so participating in confidant activities without possessing the target Persona feels like a significant loss.
If that's the case, I think the system where having Personas of the same attribute makes you closer to them wasn't really necessary.
Human parameter related
It's very enjoyable to see parameters like "knowledge," "courage," and "kindness," which are initially low, improve steadily through studying and training.
Many events in cooperative activities require this parameter to be above a certain level, so it's worth raising it.
It's especially satisfying to see your stats steadily increase when you project yourself onto the character as the protagonist.
However, the lack of clear indication of how many more actions are needed to level up to the next rank made the game somewhat difficult to play.
Since it's something that can't be quantified in reality, this specification might be natural, but I think it would be good to make it more understandable (not that I'm complaining about it).
This isn't unique to this game; it's been a feature since Persona 3, so perhaps it's pointless to mention it now.
Graphics and music
The graphics and music lived up to expectations and undoubtedly enhanced the game.
The graphics prioritize style, so you might find the menu screen difficult to read if you're not used to it.
However, since this isn't a game that aims to simplify everything functionally, it didn't bother me as someone who has played the series before.
The status information regarding personas maintains the same emphasis on readability as before, providing a reassuring sense of familiarity.
As I mentioned briefly in my comments on the battles, the presentation is cool and exhilarating, so even if the battles become repetitive, it's designed to be less likely to get boring (though it won't keep you from getting bored forever).
The background music, which makes generous use of vocal tracks, is still present in this game.
It didn't feel like they were pushing the vocals to the forefront; rather, they were using them to the extent that they worked as background music.
When I first played Persona 3, I was surprised that the battle music was a vocal track, but I think it's become such a defining characteristic of the Persona series that it's practically a must-have.
I was strongly reminded that gameplay isn't the only element that makes a game enjoyable for players.
Afterword
Once again, I'm glad I had the opportunity to play this game.
Since many things carry over to the second playthrough, you'll have plenty of time to spare.
Perhaps the real freedom to play comes after you've completed a certain amount of the game in subsequent playthroughs.
In Persona 5 Royal, you can be in a romantic relationship with up to 10 people at the same time. If this sounds interesting to you, why not give it a try?
A compilation of gaming-related articles featured on this blog.