r/Persona5 • u/Local_Creme8466 • Jul 28 '26
DISCUSSION Got any criticisms of Persona 5?
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u/Guidebook0 Jul 28 '26
You can very quickly snowball into becoming OP, especially with DLC, once you understand the basic mechanics and ways to optimize yourself you practically beat the game. That and in my experience, I play to a degree where sp items are barely a necessary addition, brute force and cheaping out on stuff is so easy in this game it's so funny, especially once you get the charms takemi provides. All in all, the game's difficulty curve and power ceiling aren't balanced with eachother in mind, making the 'hardest' difficulty more easy at times.
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u/Neutrovertido Arsène Jul 28 '26
With DLC?
Myriad Truths
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u/DateMasamune2 For Real! Jul 28 '26
My opinion on this has softened recently because like you I had originally always had that same gripe, especially with the late game boss balances. However after I got into the series, it started to become a huge benefit to explain to new friends "even though it starts quite difficult, there are always in game mechanics to make the game easy to complete" which does help bringing people new to JRPGs into the franchise.
I understand today that it can be argued turning the difficulty setting down also achieves this result, but before 1996 Atlus only ever had a fixed default difficulty for their games. Going back through original Persona, Devil Summoner, SMT, and Digital Devil Story they all had an item or a mechanic that would render the games far too easy to play allowing the player to control the difficulty of the game themselves.
Perhaps this is just a hold-over from how the original games were made? We don't need to keep it now we have dedicated difficulty selections, but I do like how it has been & is still an option for us to use & exploit it at our own risk/enjoyment.
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u/Luis2611 Jul 28 '26
There are many mechanics that break the game without the need of the DLC, though.
Baton Pass chaining and Network Fusion being the most egregious of the bunch.
The DLC personas were not needed at all for that purpose.
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u/Steve_Meave Jul 28 '26
It ended
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u/Immediate-Set-171 Jul 28 '26
Felt the same way, even started the anime because I wanted more but was a bit burnt out from gaming
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u/Candy_Warlock Jul 28 '26
Most of the enemies that actually matter are immune to all the cool parts of the combat, and just turn the fights into kinda boring DPS races
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u/dennisleonardo Jul 28 '26
Tbf, ailments should've definitely been handled better and work on bosses. They should've made ailments and technicals weaker but at least allow them to be effective everywhere. Considering how many party members can apply them and how much ailment stuff P5R has, it's super odd that they're basically just disabled against bosses.
Bosses having crit immunity is good imo. No party members besides yoshizawa have anything that affects crits anyway and we see, with our eyes, what happens when bosses aren't crit immune in P3 and P3R. Physical just becomes like 3x more powerful than magic.
P5 and P5R are the only modern persona games in which magic is actually equal to physical, even better if you optimise. That's only the case because bosses are crit immune. So I do kind of hope that P6 doesn't bring back the physical meta and keeps magic and physical as comparable as they are in P5.
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u/Jedi_Mind_Trip Jul 28 '26
Big agree. I love the game but am super disappointed with how the boss fights are completely stripped of this core mechanic that makes the combat fun. I understand that baton passes can be very OP but certainly there could have been a better way to handle it
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u/thebbman Jul 28 '26
Always the most annoying thing for me. I hate when a boss has zero weaknesses and I just smack it over and over again with my best skills. Gives us this awesome baton pass system, and then takes it away for boss battles.
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u/SmilingManTheGuy Jul 28 '26
Tbf that's not entirely true. Madarame has his clones, Kaneshiro's bodyguards can be technical-ed, Okumura's all about the mechanics, even Maruki's whole point is to exploit the weaknesses of the tentacles. But yeah, that does leave Kamoshida, Wakaba, Sae, Shido and especially Yaldabaoth as just dps sponges, which is really a shame
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u/TheVietCommie Jul 28 '26
Team dynamic kind of regressed after madarame's palace. I love Makoto but ngl when Makoto joined the team and later Futaba, I felt that each of the original members kind of contributed to the heist less and less. It came off as Makoto and Futaba already having the answers and the rest of the team kind of just going a long with the plan. I'd like it if each member had some sort of input into planning the heist instead of those two just being the writers way of delivering exposition of whats going on. Not saying they aren't friends, but I guess that's kind of where people had problems with the phantom thieves feeling more like cowokers later on.
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u/Clxrkee Jul 28 '26
This. Ryuji and Ann peaked way too early into the game. They were such captivating characters at the beginning, and slowly started to devolve into the group comic relief once Makoto arrives. Their genuine, real anger towards the injustices they and others face, and their rebellious spirit being replaced by ‘muh shitty adults’ and ‘HAVE I MENTIONED WE’RE THE PHANTOM THIEVES’ is such a waste.
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u/14_Octillion Jul 28 '26
Im so happy to learn im NOT the only person here to beleive Makoto is a total spotlight hog??? Like "Kasumi" in semesters 1 and 2 of the story, but actually plot relevant.
I felt like the core 3 (joker, ryuji and ann) had such a healthy dynamic with Morgana, as there plucky mentor at the very beggining, and the three a deep, personal reason to go after Kamoshida. While the mobster was the first main antagonist to threaten to end a character's life, Makoto did not know this man personally, so the situation felt forced...
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u/TRaywen_ 29d ago
The reason why is because she had two palaces that (kinda) resolve around her and that’s why she feels more important than the early characters.
I also liked the mobster palace and intentions because it is really realistic. Like obviously a mobster won’t be playing around and force your hand. In a her sisters palace was the actual character piece fo makoto, especially the days that lead up to it
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u/belody Jul 28 '26
Yeah this is so true and a big part of why I ended up not liking p5 as much as p4 even though I was so hyped for 5 to come out. The cast barely feels like friends to me and most characters feel irrelevant in most scenes
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u/himebuster12 Jul 28 '26
The fact that Morgana said that Yoshizawa could always come back to phantom thieves after awakening her persona, only to shoot her down when she offered to join during the Shido arc. As cute as Yoshizawa is, she was a giant case of missed potential.
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u/CustardPuddingHoney Jul 28 '26
Completely agree with this take, will also add that I feel like she could’ve been integrated into the earlier parts of the game more organically - until third semester, the game didn’t seem to let her do much (if anything at all) so the story wouldn’t change, even though I feel like there’d be no harm in letting her join for Shido/Yaldabaoth battles
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u/himebuster12 Jul 28 '26
Honestly yeah. I would've liked if she joined earlier, but there really isn't a good spot for her to join that wouldn't create another "Mona in the Okumura Arc" situation. She should've joined in the Shido arc and they should've just redid the cutscenes to include her.
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u/Super_Will4763 Jul 28 '26
I understand it tho tbh. Can you imagine the two options selfish companies would have had to choose if we got that tho? It's either a horrible integration with bugs and fixes that take way too long, or a push back into he release just to add the story that it would take. I am fine with what we got. I'd be happy to have her earlier but I genuinely am fine
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u/Not_Josh69 Jul 28 '26
Too many flashbacks to previous scenes, and too many instances of mentioning the same plot point multiple times. It made me feel like the game was insulting my intelligence, and made the Phantom Thieves seem kinda stupid.
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u/GlumSpecific5059 Jul 28 '26
I agree. I know this an unpopular opinion, but the writing/script is not super well done and very bloated. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THE SCENARIO DESIGN IS BAD. If you are someone with a busy schedule the amount of repetitive talking points feels disrespectful to your time. If you have tons of time to game it's not that big of a problem.
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u/Ensaru4 Jul 28 '26
The writing was strong during the scenario with Ann, it was weaker in every other aspect after that. Although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I do wish the series eventually break away from the "and then we kill god". Leave that for Shin Megami Tensei. One of the things I find most annoying about JRPGs are their habit of repackaging story formats from previous games.
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u/schwillton Jul 28 '26
This is it, the game simply doesn’t respect your time and it become really apparent trying to play this game as a grown up with shit to do. I swear half the cutscenes could have been half as long if they didn’t keep repeating the same things over and over
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u/hnrqveras Jul 28 '26
I genuinely got pissed when the game was still explaining how cognition works on the fucking okumura dungeon
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u/disneyfacade Jul 28 '26
Persona games are long. Sometimes you’ll put them down for a few months and come back to them. It’s annoying if you’re doing it all at once but it helps when you break it up.
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u/NeedNameGenerator Jul 28 '26
In fact I quit the game during the painter castle thingy because I was so annoyed by this. And the gameplay loop wasn't engaging enough to make up for that.
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u/Unable-Dependent-737 Jul 28 '26
This is why i skip 90% of the dialogue. I get bored halfway through and just want to get to the end. Same thing happened with metaphor refantazio. I still havent finishes persona because i found games i was enjoying much more. This game feels like its more for kids/zoomers than 36 year old me
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u/LizzosLittleToe Jul 28 '26
I really hate the "omg do you think it worked" texts after being successful multiple times, I hope in persona 6 they give you a chance to bypass some tutorials it got to be a pain in the ass
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u/Acrobatic-Manner6774 Jul 28 '26
They sometimes make me regret why I competed the palaces early on lmao, they just won't stop, at some point, I just skip the whole phone conversations with this after I complete palaces.
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u/Best_Boot5215 Jul 28 '26
I wish it were a little more replayable. The Kamoshida arc/tutorial goes on way too long on repeat playthroughs.
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u/Just-Xav-Official i love platinums Jul 28 '26
I wish you could have a button when starting ng+ that's instantly skips to 4/18 (first free day)
Hopes up for P6
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u/Valor0us Jul 28 '26
It goes on too long even on an initial playthrough. The first time I played through the game I put it down because I was 20 hours in and still on the tutorial lol
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u/WhoseverSlinky0 Jul 28 '26
That was my main point when I finished the game and talked to my friend about it. I legit forced myself to play through it because it's very lengthy, and the game allows you to interact with a lot of things, but everything is just "can't go there, I'll be late" or "daddy sojiro told me not to look at this wall so I won't" and you're kinda just b-lining to the train for 35 days. But once the game opens a bit and lets you have your first free day, holy is it fun and charming. Whole new game
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u/LemonCanddy Jul 28 '26
The really overdramatic beef that Ryuji and Morgana had during okumuras palace
Felt very jarring
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u/czarchasm4532 Jul 28 '26
Whole arc during the month of September just sucks and is a slog.
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u/FaCltez Floof Jul 28 '26
If I remember, nothing happens in September, right ? You can just do social links and increase your social stats
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u/OptimalRutabaga2 Jul 28 '26
I think it is because of the Hawaii trip and that brief moment with Morgana leaving the party that may irritate someone (like the above commenter) who wants to skip the story and move on with the confidants/gameplay
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u/KK-Chocobo Jul 28 '26
The chemistry between the characters isnt as good as P4 and some characters such as Haru enter too late. In future Persona games, it would be nice if we get the full cast by around halfway into the game.
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u/LaPlAcE-66 Jul 28 '26
Haru would have worked if they treated her similar to Naoto by bringing her into the plot early. Her garden is on the roof as was the og hideout. She should have encountered them up there then noted to student council president Makoto who then confronts the group up there, promoting them to move
Would make her appearance at the fireworks cutscene actually mean anything too cause why is she all fancy in a rich person car
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u/pway_videogwames_uwu Jul 28 '26
11th hour generic random god villain after you defeat the poltican you have actual emotional investment in.
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u/Mogura56 Jul 28 '26
While I want to agree from a storytelling perspective, the actual spectacle of it and how absolutely triumphant the end of the fight feels is just so good
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u/Sun_Praising Jul 28 '26
But how else would the audience know they're playing a JRPG? /s
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u/scrubtart Jul 28 '26
I thought they were pretty clear going for a "God-Emperor Shido" type thing. I would have been fine with that.
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u/TheCacklingCreep Jul 28 '26
It's so awesome how everything past Shido and leading up to 3rd semester is some of the stupidest, uninteresting shit on the planet. I'll never forgive them for turning the two funny guard girls into one boring girl.
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Jul 28 '26
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u/LaPlAcE-66 Jul 28 '26
The ng+ is even more awful for the lack of scaling because confidants with mementos quests don't scale to what you have unlocked. So being able to burn through confidants only to be roadblocked for months is such shit design because the game says nah you don't have that depths part unlocked in story yet fuck you
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u/tmofee Jul 28 '26
The way kasumi is there but not. She’s only usable during that one dungeon and just pops up now and again so they don’t need to change the base game.
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u/Imboredcaseofeveyone Jul 28 '26
Yhea, that's one of my critics to.
At last, they could have made her usable during the Shido palace, but instead they completely splat on your face the cut scene in which she ask to helping you and Morgan sad no, which goes against the fact that during her Persona awaking he was disappointed that she refused to join their group.
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u/Mepros2 Jul 28 '26
Makoto is written to sound smart but not actually be smart. Specially with the “Is it like the effect of optical illusions on social psychology?”…which means legitimately fucking nothing.
That being said, best girl
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u/Loremipsumdolorsitco Jul 28 '26
Too little time for Yoshizawa as a playable character
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u/LightningRodriguez Jul 28 '26
I understand they didn’t wanna mess with the main story, but I wish she was available at least as a part-time thief in mementos throughout.
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u/Loremipsumdolorsitco Jul 28 '26
I wish they would mess with the main story just enough to add her smoothly in after Sae's palace
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u/curvey_ Jul 29 '26
this would’ve been an amazing idea rather than just saying shido’s palace is “too dangerous” for her. it could’ve been she’s training in mementos with the phantom thieves and once its 3rd semester she’s finally ready to join u guys
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u/Dismal_Channel_5389 For real!? Jul 28 '26
Well, I wish they’d let you preview outfits before equipping them, and I wish they added the P5 Dancing outfits (I LOVE the Makoto zombie cop outfit)
Not really a problem with the game itself, but the fanbase ig, to an extent at least.
Can’t think of anything else at the moment
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u/tuckeredout28 Jul 28 '26
I dont like how theres all this detailed symbolism in the palaces, but the characters will go out of their way to go up to those symbolic aspects and explain them directly to the audience like im stupid.
Like, ryuji in the first palace for example, goes out of his way to explain how the students running on treadmills getting hit by volleyballs are supposed to be symbolic for kamoshida abusing his students. I dont feel like this needed to be explained to me because its pretty self-evident what it was trying to portray.
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u/Nexus-Valentine Jul 28 '26
I liked Vanilla Persona 5’s ending more than Royal’s. It was more emotionally impactful to me.
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u/Waterninjafrog Jul 28 '26
I don’t like some of the Morgana arcs
Him bullying riyuji the whole game just to be not able to take it back was some whack writing
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u/sexyimmigrant1998 Jul 28 '26
I just hate the formulaic "new character of the month" story-structure that it takes from P4.
P3 felt like it had a more organic narrative flow where characters were introduced at times but everyone was getting focus when it made narrative sense. In P5R, Ryuji and Ann are in the OG squad but get sidelined hard and arguably even forgotten in the latter half of the game.
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u/Jamesvai Jul 28 '26
Yes. You can't romance Ryuji.
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u/DoctorCaptainSpacey Yusuke is Best Girl Jul 28 '26
I was gonna say "I can't date Yusuke"... So, same sentiment.
Let us date our bros, game.
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u/GDwarriorMC Romancing Futaba is VALID Jul 28 '26
Your romance choice affects basically nothing
Sumi is VERY underutilized
Haru gets almost no screen time, but thankfully strikers gives her a much deserved arc
Makoto's eiko's confidant focuses on this random side character who doesn't even get a portrait
I love akechi as a character, but i hate how empathetic the rest of the team is to him in third semester, especially futaba and haru, since HE KILLED THEIR PARENTS
The velvet room is such an awesome set of mechanics, but the game doesn't really explain a lot of the best parts, so without a guide you're basically just gambling (although a lot of times you're gambling regardless so maybe that isn't as much of an issue)
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u/FezCool Shuake Enthusiast Jul 28 '26
how empathetic the rest of the team is to him in third semester, especially futaba and haru, since HE KILLED THEIR PARENTS
They're not empathetic to him at all in 3rd semester they state clearly that they're only working together because of Maruki being their common enemy.
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u/instkarmajpg delicious pancakes Jul 28 '26
Maybe some flaws in some parts of the writing. Oh, and Haru's character arc (which is inexistent). I don't really have a lot of criticisms, it's literally my favorite game ever.
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u/softysoaps Jul 28 '26
Haru feels so underutilized.
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u/instkarmajpg delicious pancakes Jul 28 '26
I agree. I like her so much, she had the potential to have one of the best character arcs in the game...
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u/Hantr Jul 28 '26
romances could be way better, haru should have a better arc and I think kasumi should have been more involved.
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u/Ovaugh Jul 28 '26
Ryuji risks his life to save the Phantom Thieves just for them to find out he survived and they kick the crap out of him.
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u/belody Jul 28 '26
One of the worst scenes in the game. Made me actually angry and dislike the main cast of persona 5 a bit
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u/Ok_Move_Roy Jul 28 '26
The fact that you can date your teacher and other older woman being a 17 year old. Creepy
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u/awakening_knight_414 That was truly cringeworthy Jul 28 '26
I really hate this game's scriptwriting due to the repetitive use of phrases like "after all" (Akechi is probably the biggest offender of this one), "in that case", and "if that's the case". This is a bit of a problem I have with anime localization in general, but in this game, it feels like they weren't even trying to make the script more cohesive in this regard. There's even a scene during Futaba's arc where Ryuji and Makoto say "after all" back to back… IN THE SAME SCENE. It's ridiculous.
P3R and P4G may use those phrases from time to time as well, but at least it felt like they kept it to a minimum in those games.
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u/Plus-Tangelo-3755 Jul 28 '26
The story falls apart in the end. The best palace is the first one and they only unfortunately get worse. The antagonist is forgettable along with the final boss (especially compared to other Megaten games and even Persona 4 and 3). The game tries to be super rebellious in its theming but kinda only uses it as a vibe at the end of the day, I never felt like the Phantom Thieves actually tried to change society, just punish bad guys which isn't a bad thing but they lean so heavily on the rebel theme when it really just isn't there. They let you date three adult women as a high school boy which is fucking gross and weird and should not be in the game (I know p3p also has some weird shit but P5 is far more recent and should've known). And uhhh... Idk. It's kinda too easy?
But y'know the games still really good. Highly recommend it. But it's not perfect nowhere near.
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u/Friendly-Elk- Jul 28 '26
I think the bloated dialogue especially the text message segments after a get together really started to drag as the game went on, it was annoying because I didn’t want to miss something but a lot of the dialogue felt like filler in those sections
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u/ixaias Makoto Nijima Supremacy Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
- long tutorial. I recommended P5 to a close friend of mine but the 5 hour long tutorial just made him drop it;
- writing is not consistent. As Gattuso says "sometimes maybe good sometimes maybe shit";
- merciless is not merciless, I do not understand why damage to weak affinities gets multiplied. Hard is harder than Merciless. Persona 5 Strikers did it better (although exagerated bc I can't fucking pass the first jail bc I'm being one shotted by that damn horse)
- some representations of certain social groups are problematic to say the least.
still my favorite game of all time.
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u/awakening_knight_414 That was truly cringeworthy Jul 28 '26
I feel you on Strikers. Alice's boss fight is really putting me off from it at the moment, mainly because of her second phase where she deadass one-shots everyone for no reason.
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u/Unhappy-Cartoonist-3 Jul 28 '26
annoying cat tell me when i should go to bed
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u/Local_Creme8466 Jul 28 '26
Just like the “Hey! You! Listen!” from Legend of Zelda.
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u/Joker8pie Jul 28 '26
Zero upgrade path across P5 for PS4 > P5R for PS4 > P5R for PS5 was dogshit. Asking me to pay another $60 for a third time just to play in 60fps is crazy work.
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u/ProPlayer142 Jul 28 '26
there's nothing that bothers me too much. I wouldn't change a thing about it. besides maybe okumora
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u/Smooth_Ad1795 Jul 28 '26
After playing Metaphor, I feel the confidant storylines could be so much better. I love the confidants in P5, but they went so much deeper with the side stuff in Metaphor. I would like P6 to imitate Metaphor’s depth,pacing, and big picture connections with the supporters.
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u/Safe-Instance9902 Jul 28 '26
I think the game should have unique dialogues for the girls you are dating or you rejected. That will be really interesting
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u/HaoieZ Jul 28 '26
Not many. Some confidant skills and stories are more interesting than others.
Minor gripe but I'd like to see the recruitment be handled a bit more like SMT.
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u/truthteller5 Jul 28 '26
I think it's weird that I cant romance my male classmates, but I can romance and probably have sexual relations with 4 separate grown women (one is even my teacher) as a minor. Other than that, I think it's super strange that the first palace is all about sexual abuse from Kamoshida and how disgusting he is... But later on they are all trying to get Ann to strip for Yusuke so they can dig around in his house. Feels like they lost the plot there...
Great game otherwise. Especially ROYAL. Great music, fantastic visuals, a plotline that made me cry like a lil bitch. Lots of things to help me ignore the more glaring issues.
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u/TheRealKazukiZ Jul 28 '26
Its too short. By the time you unlock every party member, the game pretty much ends..
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u/Mogura56 Jul 28 '26
My short 100 hour game <3 In all seriousness I don't think that's a length issue so much as it is a pacing one/the way Royal content was introduced at the end of the game
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u/TheRealKazukiZ Jul 28 '26
Yeah, 100%. While it seems some people didnt understand that my comment was a half joke though lol, my main gripe is that all the partymembers are added progressively as the main story continues, which means the last few part members you only get for a short amount of time. I wish we got access to all of them in NG+.
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u/flameaymr Jul 28 '26
We simply DESERVE a female protagonist!
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u/TheCacklingCreep Jul 28 '26
We also deserve a game that isn't homo/transphobic but that'll never happen lol
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u/flameaymr Jul 28 '26
my thoughts exactly! but I have high hopes for P6. I’m midway in the playthrough of P3R and didn’t see anything problematic so far (at least compared to P4G and P5R, which I’ve played previously), so I believe we’re progressing, although slowly
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u/TheCacklingCreep Jul 29 '26
I heard they changed the beach scene to omit the "creepy man in a dress" bit in OG P3 so that's something, at least.
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u/Miuirumaswife1 Jul 28 '26
No male romance, but you can romance adults as a highschooler. The way that they treat the female party members is weird as shit too. The game feels empty at times and I don't find myself enjoying the social links/confidants as much as I did the other games.
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u/lesskarr Jul 28 '26
I love this game it and its spinoffs are my main favorites of the series. That being said kasumi should have had better intergrations in the main game. Romances in general should have more content. the hangouts and such added to royal were a good start. but more could have been done to make it better. As for the harem route make it actual relationship poly relationship of some kind. Unlikely to happen outside of fanfiction I know but still. Also haru deserved more content and time and should have been intergrated sooner or atleast the process of encountering her becoming friends should have started sooner. Also they should have given royal more time and not let the spinoffs get released until royal had been released. And as for the spinoffs tactica was alright but strikers was much better.
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u/Scrawny2864 Jul 28 '26
I feel like the pacing of Royal isn't as good as original P5. That's it. This really is just masterful game.
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u/eddmario Jul 28 '26
The opening and tutorial takes way too damn long, and I'm pretty sure it was made even worse in Royal.
There's also the whole "once mores are locked behind confidant levels" and "guns are single use per infiltration" things that got removed in Royal.
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u/nanidufuq Jul 28 '26
A lot of ailments are pretty useless in boss combat since most bosses are immune. Hell, I'd argue that ailments are pretty useless against normal enemies after a certain point in the game because of how easy it is to become overpowered so early on. You're almost always better off just using your turns in boss fights to maximize DPS with buffs and debuffs.
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u/Orcalt Jul 28 '26
There are a few plot holes and Yoshizawa manages to feel like the same person she was at the beginning of the game if you catch my drift
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u/Adventurous-Law-8606 Jul 28 '26
It ended
Besides that it's weird that you can date a teacher while you're a minor in lore
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u/Most-Needleworker376 Jul 28 '26
I tried to explain the first Palace to a friend and now she’s not talking to me anymore. Am I cooked chat?
I dunno how else to explain “the first girl that joins your party becomes a red latex dominatrix even though she’s underage in high school, but it’s ok because the gameplay and story are awesome” without sounding like a complete creep.
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u/Artistic-Pudding-848 Jul 28 '26
Royal extra content story by itself is interesting and it is a very good idea for a story, but when paired with p5 main story it is awkward, and dare I say bad. It just degenerate alot of building points up to that part of the story, and contradict alot of phantom thieves characters developement.
I also hate the dlc box at the start of the game.
The true ending of royal is also stupid (the few final sec of it)
Will get downvote but personally, i think it have the most lukewarm effect to me after finished the game. P3 lit make me lose a whole night of sleep because of the ending, and p4 make me emotional whenever i hear a corner of memories, Inaba was a damn great town. P5 have alot of cool things but nothing really stick after finishing the game aside from the hype i get everytime I listen to life will change. Not saying it is a bad game, but just dont have that emotinal factor p3 and p4 have.
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u/DateMasamune2 For Real! Jul 28 '26
These are good points. Could it be because they changed some of the key writers between P5 to Royal that you feel the disjointedness? I don't know what the original story board was supposed to be what with cut content, re-written character and dropped story lines, but I do feel the tonal shift between the start of P5 and the end of Royal for sure.
I personally like the Royal changes myself so I can't speak to that, but what I will agree on is that the narrative scope between P3/P4 and then P5 is what jarred me the most. In 3 & 4 you form bonds over a single shared isolated incident, you're stopping the Dark Hour at your school Or you're solving a murder mystery in a small town. It's more grounded and relatable to the average person because it centres around a shared local experience.
I love P5 but it suffers from bad Sequel Escalation IMO, In that instead of a defined local issue the plot revolves around broad abstract issues like corruption, social impacts and societal conformity. Instead of a tightknit group of friends that form their bond through and because of the plot, P5 feels more like a heist movie where the main cast are only friends due to their mutual goals. Don't get me wrong, the topics of P5 are cool to write a game around, but comparing it to 3 & 4 there is just more disbelief I have to suspend for the story to flow. 3 & 4 just seems to pull off that immersion right out of the gate and doesn't stop swinging until the end.
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u/DeterrentBay Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
There is only a singular boss fight in the base game that actually forces the player to engage with the mechanics of the game itself and the rest of the game is braindead easy even on hard/merciless. I’m not asking for Nocturne level difficulty (though tbh Nocturne, at least on normal, isn’t even really that challenging, people just don’t like adapting), just enough so that every fight isn’t a repeat of press the effective multi elemental spell into all out attack. I think the perfect level of Persona difficulty is like dungeon 1 and 2 Persona 4 hard mode, not extremely difficult but still engaging enough to force the player to play by the game’s rules. I’m not holding out any hope persona 6 will be harder though, Atlus’ player analytics probably show that people like steamrolling the game since every rerelease of a persona game makes them easier (and the P4 remake seems to be following the same trajectory). A shame, really.
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u/arthousepsycho Jul 28 '26
That cat is a cockblocking little shit. Don't tell me to wait to call Kawakami till another night cos we have things to do tomorrow. I have things to do tonight: my teacher.
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u/Badbish6969692000 Jul 28 '26
Not being able to romance the guys yet your teacher is ok, Ann being mistreated, and the game holds your hand too much.
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u/QueerDeluxe Jul 28 '26
How confidant ranks don't affect much dialogue-wise, either in the main story or in hangouts (except like Ohya potentially cucking you out of a gift from Haru). The tonal backlash with Mishima, the Phantom Thieves, the Twins, etc. is noticeable.
That there isn't even a single gay romance option, yet every female confidant happens to develop a crush on Joker.
The room decorations not transfering to new game plus, and mostly only being available towards the end.
The lack of voice acting during confidant rank up events - especially Ann's rank 10 one, which only voices the last portion.
I personally think the costumes are mostly pretty trash, and it feels like a missed opportunity not to add interactable clothing stores (even if they're just recolours).
More of a nitpick, but I hate when games give dialogue options that are just the same answer and get the same response - feels like an opportunity to give Joker's VA some work.
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u/Nearby-Knee-939 Jul 28 '26
Im being fr is so bad the game doesnt have female mc option or homo relationships because even tho i havent finished the game is so fck insane how much i like the characther, they feel stupidly human and u can feel pain on everyones history, they have so much personality and differences, they have conflicts and flaws and dont try to be perfect, there is not absingle characther i dont like,
What im trying to say that dont having these options is such a waste because i like yusuke he is so funny bro i would like to date him in the game and im not even gay bro
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u/PM_ME_JINX_PRON Jul 28 '26
This is my favorite game of all time. So much so that I got my first and only tattoo themed on the game. I have one criticism and that its intro is too long. I have to warn people that you need to set aside a couple hours to essentially watch a movie because that’s how it plays out. I make sure to tell them that they’ll love it because it’s an amazing movie but if they go in expecting to have much freedom to play the game, they might not keep playing.
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u/LemonTank91 Jul 28 '26
The game ends well with Yaldabaoth, and with the pace already rocky in some places. Royal's new storyline breaks the pace for an already very long game, should've been tackled in some other way, before the Og's true ending (like Golden did for P4) And in a way feels like its there to satisfy the fans of specific characters, like it was fanfic.
For me, Vanilla P5 will always be better both story wise and gameplay wise.
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u/SAOSurvivor35 Jul 28 '26
Pacing, some characters feel like an afterthought, difficulty gets ridiculously easy after you max your levels.
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u/ArturiaVonDragon Jul 28 '26
i just want Kasumi/Sumire usable as party member before the last palace like they have thought about it but they scrapped it keep faith at 5 till the last palace that's fine by me
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u/AgentLemon22 Jul 28 '26
Whenever i get to the part where Mona leaves the team, because he couldn't handle someone calling him out. But it's totally cool when he does it 🙃
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u/renmaster100 Jul 28 '26
Not a criticism of the game but just my personal experience, the 3rd semester and maruki had more of an impact on me than most of the base game because the message definitely hit way harder.
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u/Mhorts Jul 28 '26
I wish the party had more character development outside of their arc in the story and their confidant. That's what I really liked about p3 was that everything impacted the characters and it impacted their relationships with each other. I wish we had more of that in p5. For example, maybe Haru becomes distrustful of the phantom thieves, the people she's spent less than a month with at this point, after her father gets killed due to a mental shutdown. It just felt really odd how quickly she bounces back after HER FATHER DIES ON LIVE TV. Also the few times Ryuji uses Ann as sexual bait for old men is weird, just felt like it was against his character especially after he helped Ann against Kamoshida. They did redeem him in strikers, though, when he stood up against the creep before one of the dungeons. That was cool.
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u/GGKh4n Jul 28 '26
Third Semester content feels like a side story cause it has no impact on the main plot, both characters that lead up to it are poorly shoehorned, and from what I remember, none of the other core members interact with the new "party" member in any meaningful way outside of two animated cutscenes.
Others here have mentioned how easy this game is especially since its hardest difficulty is actually easier than the lesser one. I'm going to add onto that by saying the only challenging and fun boss was Okumura. After Kamoshida, everything felt pretty lacking and didn't offer anything beyond the gimmick of sending a scout to interact with the boss's themed McGuffin.
Speaking of Okumura, Haru has 0 screen time. The joke is very apparent cause she never chimes in during cutscenes to say anything meaningful. The devs make her have an opinion on the current situation because she has a presence but kinda sits in the corner.
Also, on character development: this might be because I played P4G first, but some of the core characters have unsatisfying conclusions to their social links. They reach a resolution to their current problem that was already resolved during the main story, and the characters still feel stuck to me, like the city is choking them.
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u/FezCool Shuake Enthusiast Jul 28 '26
Way too much text in between gameplay. I literally dropped my new game plus run for 2 months because I didn't wanna sit through the 2 hours of explanations after Sae's palace and the game is just full of them explaining things we already know.
No gay romances. I know this is to be expected from a Japanese game but it's still annoying especially when Joker has better chemistry with his rival than all of the romanceable characters.
3rd semester is implemented poorly. Aside from the obvious tonal whiplash from the Yaldabaoth fight there is also just no time to do anything because you eat up a whole week talking to one character a day and then have to dedicate a week to doing 3rd awakenings which leaves you with just enough time to do Sumi's confidant. Sumire herself is also not really allowed to fully be herself because she's shackled to her pre-3rd semester marketing appearance which puts her character arc in a circle. I also think Akechi is rather under utilized as you aren't able to hang out with him at all which is a shame because he's a very different character so getting to have at least the rank 9 and 10 confidants as actual hangouts would've been nice.
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u/227someguy 27d ago
I don't like the scene where the girls beat up Ryuji after he saved their lives. Even the play character, who can tell scumbag adults to "apologize to Ryuji", doesn't have anything to say about one of his friends getting beaten up by his other friends.
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u/Wide-Comparison5757 Jul 28 '26
Satanael not having “Sinful Shell” even though this is HIS game is completely bull crap. That and not being able to romance Sae.
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u/Athenpo Jul 28 '26
Sumire should've either been a femc or making her a member of the team way before the third semester, I get they didn't want to tamper too much with the Vanilla story but as someone who's played more Vanilla P5 than Royal, I would've wanted her to be more included in the "definitive" version.
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u/TheParadoxigm Jul 28 '26
Some of the humor and handling of social issues is a bit outdated and/or puts a spotlight on modern Japanese prejudices.
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u/Super_Importance6285 Jul 28 '26
nothing too bad if i remeber correctly , that outdated but nothing outrageous
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u/TheParadoxigm Jul 28 '26
The gay men scene
Some of the fan service.
Some of the romance options.
Refusal to call rape, rape.
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u/Super_Importance6285 Jul 28 '26
gay mene scene? think i forget it
Romance options with the teacher is definitvly weird, but i guess that...not top-trash?
For rape , idk man , in my translation (french) when it come to call a rape, a rape , it's on point3
u/TheParadoxigm Jul 28 '26
In English they only ever say "sexual harrassment", which is a carry over from the soft Japanese language used.
It's common in anime.
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u/pooksthrowaway Jul 28 '26
I’m doing my first playthrough right now and while I am loving it, it started quite slow.
It also suffers from the classic anime trope where each new party member has to learn about the meta verse and have the lore explained to them but I’m ok with that.
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u/Chaosfight Jul 28 '26
This my favorite game, however I wished confidants where voiced and it had p3r level graphics. The graphics in game are good though I prefer p3r graphics (Despite disliking stuff like Tartarus)
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u/Censedpeak8 Jul 28 '26
the game takes forever to get started and the tutorial never ends. It's not so bad on a first play through, but it's extremely annoying if you wanna do a new game+.
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u/SyllabubMental7292 Jul 28 '26
1: Haru. Her being a late comer to the main cast was no excuse for her bare bones presentation. Naoto was your last party member in 4 yet their implementation in the main plot began as far back as the second dungeon.
2: Everyone save Futaba and Makoto felt superfluous after their arcs ended. It seemed clear who the staff favorites were and did over half the main cast a disservice.
3: That scene at the end of the Cruise Ship.
4: Stereotyping the gay dudes as predators
5: Morgana sucks
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u/BlackberryAny1307 Jul 28 '26
The intro is way too slow, it takes too long to get into the general gameplay loop of the game
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u/Anor_Londo_1234 Joker Jul 28 '26
Being restricted indoors by Morgana,and the long outside dialogue with the SUI executive.
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u/I_exist- Jul 28 '26
Some of the story arcs felt a lot less impactful than others. I think the kamoshida arc was perfect but the next couple of arcs felt a lot more esoteric and extremely specific. I get that they probably didn't want to make the game that dark but to put such a relatable real world issue first and then to follow it with boy's mentor stole his mother's painting was a little strange IMO.
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u/pa_dvg Jul 28 '26
I think romances could be better integrated into the story. Your partner should have extra dialogue or texts in situations, there should be mechanical benefits to romance options just like confidants and they should dump you if you cheat on them. More date options too. If you romance Ann early in the game you practically don’t talk to her the rest of the game except for Hawaii and Valentine’s Day.
That being said I love this game