Persona 5 Review

Persona 5 Review

Every man lies, but give him a mask and he will be sincere: so said Oscar Wilde, well-known Irish poet and writer. And the masks are the right symbol for a game like 5 person, JRPG in turn that everything can be defined except traditional. Released in mid-September in Japan, only in April 2017 did it manage to arrive in our country, thanks to a huge amount of text to be translated and a style of play that is not very fashionable in Europe. Persona 5 is a complex game, in many terms and in all its facets, to the point that it becomes difficult to tell, to the point that, to clarify the various terms, I will try to enlighten you on all the many aspects of the game, explaining the theme from time to time .



Persona 5 ReviewTake Your Heart

In Persona 5 we will play the role of a group of high school students who, more out of necessity than out of desire, will discover that there is a Metaverse, a parallel universe built by the desires of human beings. This parallel world takes power and shape from the often twisted desires of people who cannot resist earthly desires, coming to produce, in the image and likeness of the individual's subconscious, real palaces: each of these palaces contains a treasure , fulcrum and form of the person's desire, and only by stealing it will it be possible to change the subject's mind (sometimes for good, sometimes for bad). Then i will take care of it Phantom Thieves of Hearts, a group of thieves who, thanks to the awakening of their Person (which will grant them attack powers in order to survive and advance), will try to fix society (which ultimately closes itself off in the small world made up of school, neighborhood and houses of the protagonists) and restore order.



If the plot seems complex to you, know that this is the most understandable part: in fact, the game immediately throws dogmas that, in a coherent way, regulate a truly complex but multifaceted world, capable of absorbing the player in a continuous flow of events. , often overlapping and random. Characteristically, the protagonists, who will be added with the progress of the game, will be very different and particular, and this diversity can also be seen in the game mechanics and in the skills of each. Before talking about the gameplay, however, it is necessary to divide the game into two large areas: the first, more particular and important, is the social life of our primary character, who we can call whatever we want; the second, more canonical, is the part of dungeon crawling, where our heroes will have to fight enemies, explore areas and do everything that is done in an RPG worthy of the name.

Persona 5 ReviewLife Simulator

In everyday life, the priorities will be exclusively those of any high school student: attend lessons, pass the time, shop, clean the house. The protagonist's life will not be the easiest and we will use the time available (which will flow divided by days and, each day in turn, divided by moments) to read, study, see a film, run and much more. These small tests will help immediately in the game, allowing you to upgrade some social skills, however, capable of giving effects also in the Metaverse and, moreover, of unlocking certain choices that the hero can make.


Except for the actions that will end the day, you can visit the various neighborhoods and, in a nutshell, simulate the life of a high school student, made up of outings with friends, chats and bonds that are created, compulsive purchases and rented DVDs, books taken. in the library or volleyball games. Fundamental, given the frequency of days, the actions will often have deadlines and actual schedules, requiring the player for additional attention. But all this is not only useful in real life: in the Metaverse, every object will have additional functions due to the way it is seen by enemies (a toy gun can actually fire), and objects bought outside, especially medicines, will be able to be used indoors.


Persona 5 ReviewYour Turn

Entering the Metaverse, the music changes: although the bonds created in the game will allow you to unlock additional skills, the real power will be given by the Persona, these spiritual entities (inspired by the various mythologies), which will guarantee the protagonist and his friends of the powers. For this reason the attacks are divided into two main types, physical and magical: the physicists are composed of standard shots, firearm shots (with a magazine that will discharge according to use) and attack skill, which in order to be carried out will require a payment of vital points; the magical ones are the rest, they can be for the players or against the enemies, and they will consume SP.

Without further spoilers, all the supporting actors will have only one Person, with specific skills (due to the character of the character): the protagonist, on the other hand, will be able to choose which Person to use. This opens up endless possibilities, thanks to the fact that, by visiting a gorgeous and strange prison, you can merge two Personas to create a different one, thus varying both your style and the number of Persona discovered.


Persona 5 ReviewThis mechanic also blends perfectly with the combat: each enemy will have its own weakness and hitting it with that will be put KO for a few rounds. By knocking out all the enemies, a small scene will start that will allow you to choose between some alternatives: get an object, get some money, make a final attack or ask the monster for help. In the first two cases, you will receive an item or money, and then see the enemy vanish. However, things get more interesting in the third and fourth: with the final attack, a scene based only on the colors black and red, with a conclusion dedicated to the character who made the attack, will (probably) destroy the enemy; in the fourth, a complex question and answer will start. Only by answering exactly can you then ask help to that monster that will become a mask of the protagonist, and therefore his own Person. Sometimes it will not be necessary to do all this: depending on the character of the enemy (yes, you must also take this into account), some of them may surrender of their own will.


All this, however, could come back to haunt you: if an enemy brings one of your allies close to 0 HP, it could also take him in. hostage and ask you for something in return. Your negotiation skills will be necessary, leading you to lose everything before you see him dead, or to have you sacrifice a few HP to get it back.

The exploration of the buildings and social life will advance hand in hand, and this will also be highlighted by the need to explore the places before carrying out the mission: you will have some deadline, deadlines to complete the theft, within which you must have found the way to reach the treasure, all without tiring your companions too much. This is why often, after exploring a few planes, you will need to step out of the Metaverse and rest, thereby advancing your life.

Persona 5 ReviewStylish!

If there is one thing that immediately catches the eye, within the game, it is the style with which it is structured: nothing, starting from the menu and passing through the cutscene, has something ordinary, and manages to amaze from time to time. Just think that, in the experience accumulation screen, the game will actually show you a victory scene where the characters will always act differently, with a red ribbon that will highlight the scores obtained. The two worlds will also differ from basic colors: the real world will seem realistic and colored the right; the Metaverse instead it will be shaded by bright colors, tending to red and fuchsia.

Special mention should also be given to the music, very strange for an oriental title, and focused on a very particular Jazz: it fits perfectly with the thieving theme of the game, creating very active dynamics in the fights, and giving a feeling of being inside an episode. of Lupine III in the exploratory phases.

Persona 5 ReviewFind your Persona

5 person It is a particular game, and it may not appeal to everyone: it is a rich, complex and detailed game. Sometimes too much, but never cloyingly. The game will always show you new features, able to leave you speechless from time to time: the battles, especially the important ones, will have extra features from time to time, and they will allow you to choose both the trend and the way in which you will deal with them. There is a lot of freedom and sometimes you will be really undecided on how to proceed, but this, of all the mechanics, is what makes Persona 5 one of the best games released in the last period.

Full of adult characteristics aesthetically, the game does not deal with obvious but rather heavy themes: bullying, sexual abuse, suicide are just some of the themes that the game takes on and uses as the engine of the whole plot. Unfortunately, the type of game could make the approach difficult, especially for those who do not chew on JRPG: yet you only need to play a few hours to understand how a world so alive, so full of reality, can envelop you and launch you inside your PlayStation 4, eliminating the concept of time and making you slaves to a game that, on the whole, does other than confirming that 2017 is a wonderful year to be a gamer.

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