Persona 5 Analysis - Brilliant but Flawed

[@NamsCompendium]

Thanks for watching! These videos take a long time to make, so if you'd like to show some support. Please consider checking out my Patreon or becoming a Channel Member! www.patreon.com/NamsComp

[@tomato5049]

Clicked on that notification as soon as I saw it. My body is ready.

[@warriorofthegrandline2y618]

I really appreciate these long reviews as they give me very good reasons to enjoy the games I play

[@Mageman17]

Sorry, but I ain't watching this, at least not for he foreseeable future. I'm sure you're gonna Nostalgia Critic aka "narrate thru the entire story and basically play the game for us" but there is stuff like the new Awakening and the new Palace that I don't want to be spoiled on. Cheers for the 2 hour video though, could have had it running while doing chores right now.

[@warriorofthegrandline2y618]

@@Mageman17 wow that is such a good take I already played p5r but I like hearing people talk about it

[@Mageman17]

@@warriorofthegrandline2y618 I wish I could, but I probably can't get my hands on it for now since I don't have a PS4. I do feel like I'm missing out but here are things I know, that I sometimes wish I didn't, like what magic happens in the third semester (the Japanese teaser pictures even show human Morgana and Wakaba, to try and stir the pot on us), reason for Akechi still existing, the song "I Believe" and why Joker was jumping towards a glass stair backdrop in one of the trailers (the glass stairs are how you get to the last boss, which I also know who). Enjoy the vid, nonetheless.

[@paradoxtm8911]

Say what you want about Mishima but he's the only character that never enters the Metaverse who realizes that you're the Phantom Thieves without needing to speak to them 10 times

[@gamerr4ge35]

He's one of my favourite confidants, he's awesome

[@yourfriendjase]

Meanwhile, Ryuji at Rank 10: OmG! ArE yOu A pHaNtOm ThEiF?!?!

[@meen.artotzka]

People hating on Mishima because he's the one who unironically relates to them most in real life.

[@HilbertXVI]

@@meen.artotzka No mishima is just kinda cringey imo

[@digimonlover1632]

@@HilbertXVI So that applies to you? Got it.

[@SchaffrillasProductions]

As Akihiko once said, "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS"

[@nickbarlas5544]

Bruh funny shark tale crab man likes persona? Edit: yes I know he likes it, I was making a joke

[@Redox_Rajox2628]

Did ya see that SHINJI!!

[@RandomCartoonStuff]

Welcome to the compendium Schaffrillas

[@Ryderhihi]

Holly crap it's the funny Shrek guy

[@TheTorseHumtunja]

@@nickbarlas5544 He has Persona music in the bg of a ton of his videos, haha.

[@PacketWrangler]

I cried like a baby at the end of Sojiro's arc when Futaba called him dad. I had a step-daughter who I later adopted. It was rocky for us for a while, but we started to get closer when she got in to her teen years, even more so when she got sick. She passed away at 14, almost three years ago. I remember the first time she called me her dad. I think that's what did it to me.

[@blaquephyrekendra1779]

😥😥😥 [*internet hug]

[@judep582]

( Internet nod of approval)

[@yourehereforthatarentyou]

(nod of approval #2)

[@Quadraginta1337]

You're a good man, internet stranger.

[@enrico9665]

My condolences

[@NaramSinofAkkad790]

The ryuji instant kill is the only thing that made mementos bearable.

[@davyjoneslocker4859]

They did good with that instant kill can't be fighting all these bums

[@4zehorde]

I actually liked the insta kill perk a lot, but man was it jarring insta killing on the road up to the archangel mini bosses Edit: clarity

[@nameynamd9212]

Mementos was always long, but they didn't need to have your inventory stocked for multiple playthroughs, especially with Jose

[@Jmb0910]

It's horrible in vanilla because you don't get the xp or money from the fight so grinding was impossible at a high level because shadows run away if you're overleveled and its a pain to get in front of them to avoid the insta kill

[@dallasx1044]

@@Jmb0910 i agree it was a massive pain, i kind of wish there was an option to turn it off as it would then allow for grinding, especially where in the base game i needed specific materials or personas for the compendium.

[@EnerKaizer]

You missed one vital point regarding Kamoshida and Ryuji: Kamoshida specifically targeted him. He didn't want any other sports-team at the school so "his" teams would raise his social status even more. Ryujis Track-team was actually very successfull, so, in Kamoshidas eyes, they needed to go. First he let their original trainer/ teacher get fired to become the track-team-trainer himself only to drill them so hard the team would disband, but Ryuji pulled through. That's when Kamoshida went after him, he was the biggest obstackle for his plans at that point. He went even so far to use his powers as a teacher (and the schools favorite golden boy) to find out about Ryujis father leaving his family and made this become public knowledge (Which is a HUGE social stigma in Japan mind you.) Then he enraged Ryuji by talking about his father, leading to him snapping and attacking kamoshida who, on porpouse, broke Ryujis ankle while making it look like he acted in self defense. This ment that, even if the track-team would've survived the scandal of Ryuji attacking a teacher, that they would be forced to stop because their best runner (Ryuji) was no longer able to compete. (Also, while I cannot confirm this I've heard somewere that Kamoshidas story is apparently based on real events which involved a former football/soccer-player, but I could never find proof of that sadly.) This was all part of P5s main-narrative: Each member of the Phantom thiefs was specifically targeted by a powerfull adult, there were no accidents involved which was important. There was a will coming from them to harm this teenagers, showing the sheer power of their personal corruption.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

IIRC, it was actually a Judoka medalist. Edit: Yep, just looked it up and it was probably that so here is the story from wikipedia: Masato Uchishiba (内柴 正人, Uchishiba Masato, born 17 June 1978 in Kōshi, Kumamoto) is a Japanese judoka who won the gold medal in the men's under 66 kg division at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Starting in April 2010, Uchishiba coached the women's judo team at Kyushu University of Nursing and Social Welfare in Kumamoto Prefecture. In November 2011, the school released Uchishiba from his coaching position following sexual harassment allegations. On 6 December 2011, he was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of rape in Tokyo in September 2011. Uchishiba said that the act was consensual. On 1 February 2013, Tokyo District Court has declined his claim as "impossible to trust", and sentenced him to 5 years in prison PS: Only 5 years for raping a girl that was supposed to be his protegé? Holy fuck, someone go and get him a metal shutdown because this piece of shit deserves it.

[@TheMetastasia]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix I think a problem is by now to measure the consequences of sexual crimes. He didn´t kill anyone and he didnt produced a society problem. Japan can still have pretty heavy punishments for this modern time. For example, they spoke death sentence for all the core members of Aun Shinrykio ( 13 people in total) for the Sarin poisen attack of 1995 in the Tokyo Subway. Sex Crimes, especially for women, meanwhile are often tried to not make public (probably out of embarassement) by the government and so many rapist in japan dont get sentenced at all.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

@@TheMetastasia There was a case of a teenager girl, named Junko Furuta. She was kidnapped while going home from work, tortured and raped for 40 odd days. They burned and cut her while raping her until her skin became a mess of pus and blood, letting her ultimately die in agony. Those guys deserved at least life in prison by any moral standard, the ringleader was a teenager she rejected but he was related to the yakuza and young, he got 20 years in jail. The other kids didn't get over 10 years, some even went to boast about what they did and try to kill other people. In sum, I don't feel like this is unique to Japan but some lives are clearly not worth much, specially women. Even though being raped is an awful trauma and rape is a crime in every civilization since writting was invented, rapists are often the ones that pay the least, if they pay at all.

[@josephconover5270]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix I’ll see if I can get Pancake Boy by having my alternate self travel to a timeline to get him.

[@naylisyazwina6836]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix In Islam, whoever rapes and has evidence that it is 100% that person who raped, he gets a death sentence. Of course, most Muslim countries don't follow proper islamic law anymore.

[@smashybox]

“Truth be told, I had given up. I accepted that I was a zero...That my existence was meaningless. But I’ve learned. I may not be able to change the world, but I can change myself.” Mishima’s confidants was definitely one of my favorites too.

[@kevinmay9151]

I love the s.l. with unlikable personalities cause then you get to either understand why or just watch them grow(Mishima, Ebihara, council member in p3)

[@ZorotheGallade]

It's a good parallel with Maruki. Mishima becomes convinced that changing hearts and using the Metaverse can change the entire world for the better and his shadow is shocked when the Phantom Thieves don't take what he was always convinced was the easiest solution and trust him to change himself. Maruki holds the same belief, except until you literally shatter his conviction and force him to sober up he holds on to it no matter what.

[@NaramSinofAkkad790]

Okumura is absolutely just as evil as the rest. Right of the bat he's giving his daughter away to a man he knows is abusive and he cares nothing for her outside of being an asset. On top of selling his daughter as someone's toy he abuses his entire workforce to the point of collapse.

[@OriginalGameteer]

Even if targeting okumara was entirely set up by the conspiracy to pin his death on the thieves, the changing of his heart definitely did help lots of people. There ultimately was no mistake. Heck, you can argue that Okumara was harming more people than the other palace rulers (except Shido and maybe Kaneshiro), since he's completely aware he's working his employees way too much. Kamoshida affected a portion of a school's population, and Madarame only however many students he had. Okumara owns a very large company, so its incredibly likely there's a large number of employees being harmed here.

[@mortiphasm5597]

I'll agree with this, and add that even if he wasn't the culprit for the mental shutdowns, he did still request them, so he's responsible for a good portion of them. The game wants you to think that the Phantom Thieves lost sight of their original goals, but I think they had every reason to target Okumura.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

If anything, I was completely fine with killing Okumura if it came down to it, considering all the people he likely killed indirectly through mental shutdowns, overwork and his greedy ambition. Then again, I was completely fine with killing Kamoshida for physical and psychological sexual abuse, Madarame for what can at the best case scenario be called the manslaughter of Yusuke's mother, Kaneshiro for being an actual abusive thug with all the implied crimes, Akechi for being a stone cold killer and Shido for all he did. The only antagonist that I felt sorry for was Maruki, I just think someone should come out and tell him that his ideal world meant giving power to a devious deity that wanted to control humanity through him.

[@TheMetastasia]

@@OriginalGameteer I would say that he was the bishop to sacrifice. As working partners Shido knew how flawed Okumura was. And he knew that the thieves are always at flawed individuals backs. He sacrificed him to make the thieves wanted individuals in the real world. Of course, the police cant take people in custody for making things that basically hurt nobody. Shido took two birds with one stone. Criminals would always sell out other criminals to save their own back. Like a dealer would sell out his boss to avoid prison and the drug ring would sell out the dealers before the police catches them.

[@SkittlesInYourHand]

Yeah, I can understand how abusing employees can be more abstract than the rape and murder all the others threaten you with, but I would've thought him selling his daughter would've been enough to show how evil he is.

[@eclecticspaghetti]

Can we all take a moment to appreciate how creative and beautiful the visuals and music of Maruki’s Palace are? Like... that shit is *gorgeous.*

[@Joaquin-xq5wo]

@FuckOuttaHere I think i still slightly prefer Sae's Casino but Maruki could easily top it on a good day

[@Joaquin-xq5wo]

@Samira Honestly the only reason Marukis palace isn't number 1 is more personal in that im kinda dumb in puzzles so when i had to do that damn color puzzle i was just stumped. sae's palace had no puzzles and was just all up action to me

[@NamTran-xc2ip]

@@Joaquin-xq5wo I don’t have that much of a problem solving puzzles. But it feels pointless to me and probably one of the things I hate about the game. Maruki palace is decent but the 3rd semester frankly is shit. You literally have nothing to do at night, your confidants are all maxed out, and have to meet characters individually to get the awakening.

[@PapiSen555]

I absolutely agree with you.

[@eulasimp1038]

@FuckOuttaHere futaba palace is the best for me. The music there slaps so hard

[@YoshiONE2ONE]

After not liking the extra story content from Golden, the new stuff in Royal absolutely blew me away with how good it was. Apparently it was also written by the guy in charge of writing the future Persona games. If they can match the same level of quality as the 3rd semester here, then I absolutely cannot wait for Persona 6.

[@lildrawhub1025]

"then I absolutely cannot wait for Persona 6." You probably should. I hate to be a fun sucker, but Persona 5 was delayed time and time again until it was finally ready to be released (and it instantly became my favorite Persona game by far). I would expect a hypothetical Persona 6 to take just as much if not more time than P5 to release. Especially given how ATLUS is currently working on SMT V, I wouldn't be surprised if P6 came out anytime after 2024.

[@yl3716]

@@lildrawhub1025 the wait for P6 i dont think will be as long as the wait for P5 since with P5 they had to make a whole new engine and then figure out how to use it (Catherine was their practice run with it). They will probably use the same engine for the next game so the wait shouldn't be as long.

[@joaoassumpcao3347]

Yeah, knowing that the 3rd semester was written by the new guy in charge makes me super optimistic. Vanilla P5's writting was good for the most part, but the formula already showed some signs of fatigue (specially with the main plot). 3rd semester was such a surprisingly mature take on the themes of P5 and complemented the vanilla plot so well that it's impossible not to get excited for what's to come

[@onewingedren2228]

@@lildrawhub1025 Actually Persona 5 needed to be remade from zero because of a Japan Tsunami, so they made the game be about Japan and Japanese society and they were working in a new engine And the original idea for Persona 5 is going to be used in the game "project Re:Fantasy" from Atlus

[@mechacode8527]

I second this. Personally, I think Golden's extra content was kinda a mixed bag. It had really great content that expanded on the original, like the Jester Social Link with Adachi, but had questionable additions related to a certain new character. But with Royal, I was amazed of how much they upped the game's themes in such an organic way.

[@Negajoe]

1:46:54 - Funnily enough, in the Thieves Den there's actually some dialogue between the lady party members where they discuss how much they regret pummeling Ryuji after he saved all of their lives. I get the feeling this was added by the writers after seeing how much fans disagreed with that scene in vanilla P5.

[@blvck1635]

Lol I understand why everyone was bothered by that scene but I always took it that at first they were just shocked to see him, and he got his butt whooped when he said Ann looked ugly while crying, over HIM lol

[@riplix20]

@@blvck1635 I think it’s just more of a “ we thought you were dead, you didn’t text, you just walked up nonchalant and flirted with Ann, assbeatingtime It’s like a parent scolding their kid for being out late without contact, but ultimately they’re happier than they are angry, even if they show the anger

[@CheshireCad]

Did Royal ever give that same treatment to the way that Ann is sexually exploited by Yusuke in the Madarame arc, and address or change the dismissive way her teammates act about it? It's extremely jarring the way that was handled, considering how it immediately followed the Kamoshida arc. It really did feel like P5 had several writing teams that didn't communicate nearly as much as they should have.

[@Arkain89]

@@CheshireCad I mean you'd need to completely change Ann as a character, I always thought it was in extremely poor taste that she was the "hot anime girl" whose idea of rebellion is wearing a skintight red BDSM suit, use a whip as a weapon, and being named "Panther" she's literally the one who's been sexually abused, just make Mako the hot one wtf

[@CheshireCad]

​@@Arkain89 - Probably the simplest way to change her character is to make it so that Kamoshida never tried to have sex with her, but she does explicitly admit to having sex with several other guys her own age. But the entire school is gossiping that she's a total slut who's slept with dozens of guys, including Kamoshida. This would make her "Actually, I don't care if I'm a slut" character arc actually make sense. It's a great message of sexual liberation and rebelling against the expectations of society. It just doesn't belong on a character who has nothing to do with sex. Then, just make her consistently provocative throughout the story. Including the whole "nude model" infiltration being her idea.

[@togedemarusiridescence7219]

About Sojiro, I have to disagree. Beginning his confidant at the very beginning of the game and have it continue until towards the end is part of what makes it so good. I don't think it would have such an impact on me if it started after Futaba's Palace.

[@jmurray1110]

Could have greyed it out like other confidants though

[@joaoassumpcao3347]

@@jmurray1110 They do. Iirc it locks at rank 4 until Futaba's change of heart

[@jmurray1110]

@@joaoassumpcao3347 not the only time it’s properly locked is during the mementos request that locks both of them You can still do hangout session band it doesn’t tell you about the prevention of ranking up so you could waste a lot of time

[@luissaumeth8000]

@@jmurray1110 is fixed in royal, i'm currently playing and it locked in rank 4. I know cause i still haven't finished futaba's palace and the last hang out i did with him was in freaking madarames palace (literallly 3 days after the palace got un locked)

[@jmurray1110]

I hadn’t played royal at the times (actually in the middle of an advancement run) so was going purely on vanilla Switch port is excellent @@luissaumeth8000

[@jaxxy2583]

You know Nam, I love the way you structure the videos. They feel like you are just talking about concepts and stories with a friend as they come to your mind, but not in a way that is confusing. I think that's the best way to do that.

[@JadeRocks_]

Your final thoughts really are my thoughts exactly. It's a damn shame this game has the reputation that it has over a vocal minority of people. I've loved this game since I first played it, and it was such a great entree point for me and a lot of my friends into this amazing franchise, and I will always cherish it for that, as well as being a great game in it's own right. Keep up the good work Nam, and I look forward to whatever you happen to cover next whether it's the spinoffs, SMT, or something else entirely

[@dakeouswoods]

I find it very interesting that ann, yusuke, and haru are said to be characters That didn’t get fleshed out initially, but get time to shine in persona scramble.

[@kevinmay9151]

I totally disagree with Ann and Yusuke(Haru absolutely). But you learn about Ann's relationship with Shiho and Kamoshida. Yusuke knows that Maderame's a bad person but deep down can't hate him while also learning about the true origins of The Sayuri(not to mention he is just bursting with Personality).

[@dakeouswoods]

@@kevinmay9151 I think the minor problem for them is that’s where it kinda ends for them. Ann and yusuke characters go stagnant after their respective stories. We’re not saying they don’t develop at all. Or they are bad But they do go to stand still after the kamoshida and madarame palaces. Unlike the others.

[@kevinmay9151]

@@dakeouswoods Ann kinda does but not Yusuke imo. He is a voice of logic as Makoto is a voice of strategy(Makoto having a stronger presence as a PT). He calls out Ryuji and doesnt run into action without thinking. The personality is also a bonus hahaha.

[@jmurray1110]

Are they Like haru isn’t because they just stuck her at the end and it’s common fir people to not know where she is and to just use joker because you need baton pass and in vanilla she’s worthless Like seriously I didn’t even know you could view confidants on the map until I accidentally pressed the button on my second playthrough

[@piemaster831]

1:48:30 Kaneshiro was significant because it was the first time they started branching out and helping a huge amount of people. Kamoshida was pretty big but it was overshadowed by being their origin, then madarame was more notorious but very small scale in his negative influence. Kaneshiro was removing a stain from an entire city.

[@ZorotheGallade]

Not to mention it escalates how directly they are ruining others' lives. Kamoshida is a bully who had no direct hand in Shiho's jump, though he was more than happy to weasel out of responsibility for it and let others take the fall, no pun intended. Madarame opportunistically let Sayuri die because he stood to gain fame and money from claiming her art. A sort of murder by inaction, but still not a death directly caused by him. Kaneshiro meanwhile is entirely in control of a gang that presses students into becoming drug mules and doesn't think twice of kidnapping and torturing them in some fashion, if the deadline game over scene for him is of any indication.

[@CantHandleThis6]

@@ZorotheGallade Kamoshida was either beating her or sexually harassing her (most likely both). He probably was a big reason she jumped. Unless you mean he didn't physically shove her off

[@TenebraeXVII]

The impact of Kaneshiro on the Phantom Thieves is that he's one of the main financial backers and money launderers for Shido's conspiracy and the Phantom Thieves taking him down winds up ratcheting up their threat and priority level from "Kobayakawa seems a bit worried about this, I'm sure he can use his own resources and look into it." to "This is a lot bigger than we first realized and we need to take some drastic action to try to flush them so we can crush this threat". From Futaba's palace on until Sae's palace, all Phantom Thief heists center in at least some way on Shido attempting to use, flush, and crush the thieves via increasingly escalated means; (Medjed threatening some cyberterrorism to force Phantom Thieves out into the open, using the Okumura incident to both murder a dangerous rival and turn public opinion on the Phantom Thieves by framing them for the assassination, and sending Akechi in to force the capture of Joker during the casino operation and pick off each member via assassination starting with Joker)

[@bluejay7058]

Honestly, Mishima seemed like a mirror for gamers that took their self esteem issues in a horrible direction. They see their work of gaming as some sort of link that they need to grip or else their life will fall apart. (Often times it can be something else, such as work or school). If/when it falls apart due to stress and guilt, they lash out and become horrible people. This confidant really teaches people that you need to seek help and love instead of becoming a terrible person. It's the only way to grow from abuse healthily and prevent yourself from becoming a bully.

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

Nah he's meant to show the dangers of living vicariously through someone else. Mishima is a loser who found minor fame in propping someone else up, so he leaned into it even when that person didn't want to be propped up by said loser, but mishima didn't care about how they felt, all that mattered was how HE felt, and that's bad.

[@someonewhospams0w0inchat16]

​@@JimMilton-ej6zithat IS bad, and he realized it. You didn't even needed to fight his shadow when you confronted him in mementos, he changed once he came into his senses. He even forgave his bully by standing up for him when he was getting mugged, which in turn he came out as a better person in the end.

[@dey6942]

I don’t like the argument that Makoto is basically the leader of the Phantom Thieves seeing as there are a lot of cases in media where the leader of a team isn’t exactly the brains of the team, I think a good example of this outside of Persona would be within the Sly Cooper series.

[@drasconboy6349]

Problem with Makoto is she’s also extremely good in like every other area Like...to the point where she almost borderlines into Mary Sue territory

[@dey6942]

@@drasconboy6349 I disagree, Makoto isn’t good at everything but she’s shown to be very intelligent. The Phantom Thieves are a group that usually go through palaces using espionage tactics so of course Makoto would shine if she’s the strategist, however that doesn’t mean she’s the only member of the team that is very good at what they do.

[@drasconboy6349]

@@dey6942 She’s also extremely physically capable

[@dey6942]

@@drasconboy6349 I guess you could say that but that literally goes for pretty much every other Phantom Thief who isn’t named Futaba. If you’re speaking about her martial arts skill specifically then i’d recommend you look at someone like Yusuke or Yoshizawa who are pretty adept with swordplay so I don’t exactly see what you’re getting at.

[@drasconboy6349]

@@dey6942 Dude, I mean look at the way she’s portrayed She’s by far the most intelligent member She’s extremely capable in martial arts to the point where everyone commented on how adept she was Unlike Yusuke or anyone else on the Thieves because they never openly comment on each other’s melee skills Her only real flaw is that she’s somewhat socially awkward

[@rocrod430]

It's like Style over Substance but actually good holy shit

[@kevinmay9151]

right? and everyone who likes that video is like "p5 fans just hate anyone who disagrees with them" uhhh no. If you watch Zero Punctuation, Superbutterbuns spoiler video and shenpai you will find critisism against this game. These two videos are just the only videos that imply that p5 has flaws in their titles, and this one is actually backed by facts and logic and actual context and Nam actually is capable of reading and no superficial takes and doesn't set up a high and mighty tone just to fall flat on it's face and justifies this video being 2+ hours long.

[@TailsGuy72]

And that mangakamen video that absolutely destroyed style over substance

[@kevinmay9151]

@@TailsGuy72 A List Exists reacted to entire video and destroyed him, point by point.

[@kevinmay9151]

Also I like the profile pic!

[@TailsGuy72]

@@kevinmay9151 OOOOH, I gotta check that out.

[@WarMhoc]

Mishima confidant was one of my favorite too. The only annoying thing for me is how the protagonists treat Mishima. Most of the conversation lines gives the impression that there was no friendship between them. Thats sad, since the problems Mishima faced are much more close to what the ordinary teenage must face.

[@zeldafreak000]

I kind of disagree that Akechi is a character with conflicting traits. On a surface level, I can definitely understand what Nam says. However, I want to provide the idea that Akechi and Joker being Law and Chaos should be viewed as somewhat inverted, where Akechi is lawful evil (maintaining the status quo, held back and bound to their problems) and themselves serve as a self-example of the exact criticisms they have about the Phantom Thieves, although you need to do a bit of "reading between the lines". Akechi does not genuinely care about the law or due process, and because of this they criticize the Phantom Thieves not through their actions, but through the fundamental idea that they use their power without genuine permission or even transparency for those they supposedly serve. I prefer to view him as saying without saying (when you have context) "This power is profoundly dangerous and I'm the exact reason it is. The only reason the Phantom Thieves are justified is the power to be Phantom Thieves was given to them and not to more people like me." Akechi being the law side and Joker being the chaos side, in my opinion, is intended to "flip" at a certain point, where Joker is rebellion (Chaotic good) and Akechi is systemic cruelty (Lawful Evil).

[@sergiosalazar8702]

Great explanation

[@Dahras1]

One of the biggest problems with Goro Aketchi being the "Law representative" is that it leaves the Law perspective thematically empty. P5 consistently hints at the idea that, even if the Phantom Thieves use the heart-changing power for good, the existence/use of the power at all might be immoral or toxic. Aketchi is that perspective's figurehead. But because Aketchi ends up revealing himself to be cynical and depraved, it completely strawmans that entire viewpoint. The same thing is true of Sai Nijima to an extent. It isn't enough that she believes in applying the letter of the law above the spirit, she also has to be cynical about the concept of justice itself, symbolized by how she sees the court as a casino. The Phantom Thieves "disprove" the Law perspective, but only because all of its advocates are revealed to not really believe in it. As a consequence, no one expresses the Law perspective's most cogent points. The flimsiness of the Law perspective, despite it being consistently hinted at, makes Persona 5 feel morally simplistic on replay and points towards P5's biggest flaw: it tries to do too much. P5 would have been a better game without the Law perspective, if it was shorter and more efficient. The topics P5 actually focuses on, it handles well: personal agency, how elders exploit their juniors in Japan's seniority-focused society, how we can convince ourselves to stay unhappy out of fear. But it's all the other stuff it doesn't have time for makes everything feel more mixed. And that's not to mention the length. This may be anecdotal, but me and a lot of the people I've talked to ended up being a lot less positive on the game because of the length. P5's ending was epic, but that feeling was undercut by the exhaustion of it coming after a nearly 100 hour game. Hell, everything I've heard about P5R sounds great, but after playing through P5 twice, I just can't bring myself to play it. I really love P5 (I played it twice after all), but weirdly enough, I find it more disappointing than most games. With all the production values and heart it has, it could have easily been a masterpiece. But it falls just short for me.

[@davids.7885]

As a prosecutor myself, I agree with many of your points, but I think that oddly enough, the true ending and the actions of the PT somewhat vindicate the concept of law. The PTs act to reform criminals and instill in them true appreciation for the heinous nature of their actions (something that is somewhat lacking in our justice system, though this could be due in part to the minimization of bad acts that we're prone to). The end result is a full blown confession and desire for punishment/atonement. What law enforcement official wouldn't love that? The final dilemma re: Maruki also has very interesting implications for law. In Maruki's perfect world, humans aren't wounded in a manner which causes them to hurt others (and to a degree, law ought to strive to prevent harm to it's citizens). Repudiating this perfect world and disbanding the PTs means that in Persona's Tokyo, society must rely on the law to prevent crime and punish/reform criminals. Maruki is meant to teach us that a world in which people are free to walk their own path with all of its attendant ugliness, and in a sense, this vindicates law by proxy; an imperfect world where the law (in theory) stands between society and the twisted desires and actions of some is preferable to a world where law is obsolete because of Maruki's actions.

[@dungeonsanddobbers2683]

OK, so with respect to Akechi, he represents the Justice arcana in the game which, in tarot, is supposed to represent truth, justice, and all that good stuff, so his being the figurehead for the argument that what the phantom thieves are doing is wrong makes sense, and I would agree that his turning out to be a major antagonist would strawman that argument _if_ it wasn't for the fact that, in tarot, the cards can be "reversed" giving them the opposite meaning, which in the case of the Justice card would be dishonesty, unfairness, and a lack of accountability. Sae is representative of the Judgement arcana, which is about self-evaluation and reflection, and is the only one of the arc-villains whose treasure the PT's don't actually steal and goes through a change of heart on their own. Japanese courts have a 99.8% conviction rate, so it's only natural that Sae views the court as a casino because "the house always wins" I do agree with the point you make about the length. I've just finished my first playthrough (PC release) and felt utterly drained and just wishing it would end by the time I got to the last stage (I didn't get the true ending), which really wasn't helped by the fact that the first and last 4 or 5 hours just felt like an interactive cutscene. It's a good game, I enjoyed it, and it's definitely up there in the list of top JRPGs, but it's not the masterpiece that it's been hyped up as.

[@rikudoubapeck]

I think you articulated part of the reason I don't quite get the love Akechi received after Royal updated him. Speaking as someone who only has experience with Royal but has seen videos on people explaining how it fixed Akechi because of his confidant and the third semester I didn't quite get it. Even when he had a facade I liked Akechi and agreed with his point about the Phantom Thieves method being questionable. It kind of devalued free will and I also thought the story became too juvenile in how it handled the moral ambiguity of their actions especially because all their targets were "shitty adults" who had little nuance. This is why Futaba's palace is my favourite as an aside. Anyway I would tell myself the main characters are all teenagers so I can't expect a nuanced perspective but it still felt too simplistic. Also this was exacerbated by the length because you were tackling this subject with little nuance the same way again and again and it all ends with a literal deity that represents the shitty society that enabled the aforementioned shitty adults. Now it just devolves into beating it up completely murdering any nuance left in the matter. For future persona games I hope they drastically decrease the game length but have multiple full campaigns that are accessed at the beginning of the game depending on the player's actions. Like have an end goal for the entire campaign decided at the beginning and have several 30 hour gameplay chunks unique to that story route. The stories should be smaller scale as well and maybe if you complete all the routes you can unlock the true final boss where you inevitably fight a deity.

[@albertocruzado2899]

I kinda agree with some parts. I would have liked to see a law subplot more developed, indeed. But i see it as the game was about the themes it was, and mostly deal with, and the law and the system implications has to be there, if only because they had to be recognized when the actions of the characters are this public. I think that we still have nuance enough through Sae, specially after her Palace, where we see someone struggling for law and justice in a very unfair and corrupt scenario. I would have liked a more developed take on vigilantism, as it came pretty natural to the plot (Persona 5 is, after all, a superhero story in a lot of ways), and i am kinda grateful for Royal that at least some of the essence of the conflict was present with the final antagonist, someone who completely remake reality with his power, with absolute disregard for individuals or collective opinion, law, or rights. Maruki is the Phantom Thiefs, but without all those moments where the Phatom Tthiefs debate the justice of their actions, if their motivations is right, if they are legitimized to change people minds. Regardless of Akechi being false at the end, he put issues in the table about the justice of using such powers to do "your own justice" without supervision, the characters deal with the idea through parts of the story, and the ending does present the scenario of someone with the power to "change" people, not holding himself accountable to any law or authority, as he is "the savior", above those things. So i see the point you bring, but i dont think the game dealt with it badly or anything. They really should have made the villains more understandable, to give a bit of more nuance to them, thats true. They even though about that, as apparently in Royal, they wanted to introduce flashbacks about the villains in the palaces, but dropped the idea in production. I think some things of that still remains. Sad, because thats certainly something the game lacks, i feel. Together with the spirit of rebellion, the idea of greater understanding of how things came to be this way, to not repeat mistakes and become greater.

[@SpeedWeed261]

I've Waited Four... No, Five Thousand Years For This Moment!

[@typemoriarty3898]

This game is just copying bubsy 3D. Once again, Atlus has failed to deliver an original product. Smh.

[@TrashorTreasure]

Finally finished this! Persona 5/Royal has some flaws, just like anything else and they're mostly minor, but this is as perfect of a game to me as it gets, nevertheless. The highs are way too high to be clouded over by the bad moments, middle arc included. The cast have fantastic chemistry, the gameplay's very solid, and the story has nice and deep messages underneath its somewhat simple premise. P5 got me into the one of the best series of games I've ever played, and I know I'll be coming back to them again and again. The characters feel real to me, and this was also great practice for my social skills, as someone with autism who's not very confident with strangers. Excellent video anyway, and I look forward to seeing you tackle the rest of the spinoffs in due time!

[@tastethecock5203]

Hey aren't you the guy who did not undestand the plot of persona 2

[@Swissroll91]

I’ve seen many of your persona related content and have very much enjoyed it!

[@priestofronaldalt]

*Laughs in 5th palace boss*

[@insertnamehere658]

@@priestofronaldalt what's wrong with it?

[@connorharnage6697]

@@insertnamehere658 From a story perspective, too much is going on at once along with a poorly designed palace with, in my opinion, the worst boss in the game

[@cxsmiclix]

I didn't like Futaba's dialogue too much but the fact they captured her lifestyle really well and did an autistic coded character right I truly had a large emotional connection with her.

[@teeveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

She also calls Mishima ugly, which automatically makes her the best character

[@thelegendaryace1395]

Can we take a moment to acknowledge that even Maruki is deep down a good person, he's still pretty intimidating.

[@thelegendaryace1395]

I can’t wait for the day Persona 5 Royal will become nostalgic to me.

[@eyoshinthemaximum]

I never got lost in palaces, and P5R was my first ever Megaten game, I also never had trouble with a lot of the puzzles. I think that it really just depends on what you have played before, specifically genre wise

[@thepaintingbanjo8894]

I think the reason why Mishima gets hate on by the fandom is because they see themselves like Mishima would be in real life and they hate it.

[@sergiosalazar8702]

Low key fax

[@OriginalGameteer]

Meanwhile I see Mishima in myself and am willing to sympathize with him even when he gets pretty bad briefly

[@joaquinjovane135]

oh wow while i do like mishima, i think it´s dumb to generalize why a person wouldn´t like character

[@myyoutubeaccount4167]

Almost every Mishima supporter thinks the entire world is populated by nothing but Mishimas apparently, according to the amount of times I've seen this take.

[@dilandduck1016]

1:23:55 In all honestly, I quite liked the way Sae revealed who was your next target. I enjoyed knowing the target, but not knowing why we're targeting them, how we go to know them, what they did and such. Edit: OH HEY THE VIDEO WAS RELEASED ON MY BIRTHDAY YAYAYAYAY

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

same I always looked away when she revealed the targets so it'd be more of a surprise to me when he got more shown

[@bongodongo9229]

I didnt because you spend a good amount of time before entering the palace finding out about the guy, as soon as you hear hes the target from sae it all goes to waste

[@hunterlawrence3573]

I almost always ended up forgetting just because it takes so long from when you first hear from Sae to when you actually start the palace. So I'd get both the initial reveal from Sae and still a bit of surprise as events unfold in the story as well. Plus it always ended up being pretty different from what I first imagined.

[@sadlib_7463]

Great video. I agree with most of parts especially on the third semester. The third semester is so good. For me personally, Akechi's death hit hard in the original Persona 5, especially when Lavenza said that piece of dialogue. A showdown with Akechi was inevitable. No matter what Joker and Akechi do it was destined to turn out this way. It was sad to think about this was just a game for Igor and Yaldabaoth.

[@DiarrheaIsUnbreakable]

I disagree about Okumura being less despicable than the other Palace Rulers. Its heavily implied that Okumura is responsible for many mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns, particularly rival competitors and disgruntled employees. He admits that he is a client for Akechi's services. Not only that, the problem is that the Phantom Thieves except for Ryuji were never shown being obsessed over gaining fame. The reason they even got involved with Okumura in the first place was 1) Haru and her situation and 2) him being their only possible lead to who's responsible for the mental shutdowns.

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

That, and his cognition of Sugimura looks and acts the exact same as the real one, implying that Kunikazu Okumura was fully aware of who Sugimura really was

[@jmurray1110]

Honestly I think the reaction to okunera’s crimes is disgusting How brainwashed do you have to be to think that the guy who thinks people are his slaves to be used and disregarded when no longer exploitable He’s the ultimate representation of capitalism and to top it off he was sending his Dwight to a place he knew full well was going to abuse her to the point the cognitive version of him said ge was going to rape her (in a round about way)

[@theoutsiderjess1869]

Plus he is pimping out his own daughter for business

[@IM-vv5dm]

I do agree with the perspective on Shido as a villain. He feels less like his own character and more of an embodiment of the corruption the Thieves fight against. An amalgamation of terrible personality traits does provide a villain you can definitively root against, but can hurt any interest you have in them without a more in-depth look at how they view the world or what drives them.

[@kelliesmith5113]

i think the reason kaneshiro especially has no lasting power is because he’s just not personally tied to any of the main cast in a meaningful way, while every other palace ruler is in some form or fashion. he really does just kinda feel like filler content to get makoto in the party before you get to futaba’s palace probably doesn’t also doesnt help that his palace feels significantly shorter and less engaging than the others

[@Vulgarth1]

I believe you got completely the wrong idea about Akechi and Shido. It's not so much that Akechi represents "law" just because he's placed along a narrative mirror line to Joker. It's more that he represents completely unbridled anarchy as opposed to a righteous revolution. Akechi is shown to be everything the Phantom Thieves must not - but absolutely could - become. Shido meanwhile is a very weak antagonist because, while he is the instigating incident for Joker's role in the story, virtually everything about him except for his existence as a real human being was fabricated by Yaldaboath. Before Yaldaboath awoke in the depths of Mementos and took over the Velvet Room, Shido was an extremely minor political actor of an insignificant constituency. Probably in the same town/prefecture as Joker. It's a little unclear as to whether their first meeting is before or after Yaldaboath's interference, as Shido's a complete jackass crook with or without that stuff. Long comment, I guess, but I really wanted to highlight what I thought was worth considering about your criticism regarding some parts of the characterization.

[@pwn3ronetwothree]

I love how you had to put a disclaimer on THIS video. Persona 5 fans who haven't played any other games in the series really will try to tell you that it's still better than the rest

[@overlordchemm3705]

As much as I like the state P5 was in when it was finished, I find it incredibly interesting that it could've been much darker, or at the very least, much different. The very first teaser we got for the game was that "you are a slave, want emancipation?" screen with the chairs. Theres something so weird and alluring about that trailer to me, compared to Persona 5's lively and youthful feel, it feels cold and devoid of life. I went back a couple weeks ago and watched it again and even thinking about it now gives me chills. Even looking at things like Morgana's beta design is cool as hell and I find myself wondering more about what the game *could've* been instead of what it actually ended up being. Like the Persona 4 drafts where Yukiko and Dojima were gonna be villains. That chunk of text had absolutely nothing to do with the video, I just find it and game betas/cut content in general fascinating.

[@sirbruno95]

I personally blame Persona 4 for this. Before P4, every Persona game tackled serious, sometimes dark, plots and themes. Even Persona 3, which had tons of cheerful moments here and there, had it's own share of equally dark moments. Ever since Persona 4 came, the series changed its tone drastically. Sure, P4 might have a dark hook with its Murder "Mystery", but it's literally the only thing that's somewhat dark in the whole game. Everything else is tinted in this rose colored filter filled with compassion, self love and friendship. It got even worse in Golden. Call me edgy, but I was honestly puking skittles at how bright and cheerful the game was that I quit little after you get access to the mall (It didn't help that I didn't like Chie's new voice actor. I miss my og tomboy). But given that P4 is Atlus golden hen that keeps on giving, they want to replicate it again so of course deviating too much from it might be a risk in their eyes.

[@oreotaku4017]

@@sirbruno95 yep edgy

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@oreotaku4017 And yet, I agree with him. Perhaps a Persona game shouldn't just handle the meaning of understanding others and their own struggles, but also understand that one's own self truly comes first and foremost, and selflessness can easily be the path to damnation

[@oreotaku4017]

@@kichiroumitsurugi4363 well see that’s the thing Persona isn’t really built like that. Even the original 3 games, as dark as they could be still push positive messages with bonds and their relation to ones true self. If the new director wants to explore darker/heavier themes, which if P5R’s third semester is any indication they will, doesn’t mean they need to make the entire game bleak and cynical. Let Persona be the lighter toned spin off of the MegaTen series it was supposed to be and continue to show atlus support for the darker mainline SMT or interest remaking/rereleasing their other dark toned games like DDS.

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

@@oreotaku4017 I feel like Devil Survivor is a case of bringing the best of both worlds

[@Dubbel12]

To be fair theres no such thing as "perfect game."

[@Hilversumborn]

Perfection doesn't exist, that's why we strife for it.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

Jack bros would like to have a word with you

[@GrindyVine]

Let's be real, Persona 3 Sun social link is pretty much flawlessly Even nam didn't talk much about it, it's very emotional

[@kevinmay9151]

I think the reason for p3 being the strongest story(at least imo and what seems to be the general consensus among persona fans) is that a narrative about death is very hard to top, because that is ultimately what controls our lives. this is why I like p5 story because I understand the need to have new stories themes, even if it wasn't perfect, it was all around solid, there were some high and low points.

[@GrindyVine]

@@kevinmay9151 yep while the fandom.. It's horrible :P

[@Aigis31]

Being in the end game of Persona 3 hurts the soul so hard, maxing Sun and going back to the bench in March to find his mother there just makes me start bawling

[@JayAreAitch]

@@kevinmay9151 disagree. Premise matters very little. P5's problem is not that its premise isn't as good, but its poor execution. Probably partially a result of being rewritten too many times over its drawn-out production, but also partially the fact that Persona doesn't have any great writers.

[@blizzred2143]

@@kevinmay9151 I definitely understand your point about them switching things up. Ngl P3 and P2 have very strong and compelling stories. I hope P6 has more of a mature vibe, with a whole different story template (no high schoolers) lol

[@victorvcj2]

31:37 "I can imagine that you were expected to find these shortcuts so that when you sent the calling card you had an easier way to get back to the treasure [instead of fast traveling to it]." By accident, on my first play through of Persona 5 Royal (which was also my first ever Persona game) I completely did not see the last safe room in Kamoshida's Palace. That meant that when I sent the calling card I had to manually travel from the Tower Safe Room to the treasure, with the security level at maximum. I can say from experience that doing this was very annoying and took all the fun out of the "heist", instead replacing it with stressful tedium. While I agree making the player manually reach the treasure after sending the calling card could be interesting and enjoyable, it would require redoing how the security level/shadow spawning system works for that circumstance. It seems like Atlus either could not figure out a balanced way of changing that, or couldn't find the time to work on it, and instead allowed us to fast travel there.

[@Nekufan1000000]

It would not, because in my experience the security level works exactly how it did before. Ambush a shadow, kill it, the palace security goes from 99% to like 75%.

[@arcanus7294]

Wonderful and very enjoyable video, I have been waiting for this. I really appreciate you bringing light to some characters or aspects that I see as being overshadowed by the community's emphasis on the waifu wars, character quirkiness, or annoyance towards a character because of a part of their personality's such as Ryuji's obnoxiousness. Especially in your confidant section I am glad that you were able to touch on Mishima's struggle and relatability as well as Yusuke's and Haru's development within their respective confidants. Overall amazing video man, thank you for it.

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

And yet he falls in line with people about Morgana, how interesting.

[@nageat9911]

I actually really appreciate the lower difficulty. On my 1st playthrough easy mode gave me what I thought to be a comfortable amount of challenge because I am not at all familiar with RPGs. Now that I've learnt the mechanics I'm a lot better but it feels like it was made for people who are less familiar with RPGs.

[@ludvigrassmus8599]

Same here, I love these games but having to replay a 30 min bossfight from the beginning after dying just ruins the experience for me

[@thelegendaryace1395]

Welp what I liked about Royal is that they kept the challenges fresh and interesting. The third semester to me was literally like Oh? You thought it was too easy huh? Now you’ve gotta utilize baton passes and your hardest hitting attacks to beat Azathoth!

[@ashrunzeda4099]

@@thelegendaryace1395 Just use INO man. Even in Merciless, I really didn't expect that ATLUS would make a very OP attack that could 1-hit every boss (Technically 3 hits for 1 action).

[@pcharl01]

@@pvtkandahar7267 technically P5 is not SMT game. But the sentiment is understood.

[@hunterlawrence3573]

I feel like it's only really too easy if you've played this types of games before and know how to max out everything as efficiently as possible. Most new players will not unlock every confidant ability or fuse every persona.

[@Bard69]

It was actually thanks to Maruki that I was able to work on my Final in Creative Writing. I’m the story a friend wanted to make a perfect world like Maruki but instead he stoled the desire of people with hate (racist, criminals, homophobia, and criminals). However when he steals the desire he controls them to be better people. His friend has to either agree or disagree with him, I made two endings one in which he agrees and one in which he disagrees and they have to fight. The one in which he disagress is one I personally like but I made both ending cannon because it’s based on what would you do in that situation.

[@ridleyroid9060]

Wouldnt that be counted as plagiarism tho?

[@Bard69]

@@ridleyroid9060 I don’t know. I didn’t steal the names and I was just inspired by what Maruki did.

[@akirakurusu861]

@@ridleyroid9060 That’s like saying all heroes who ever existed copied Superman, because Superman is the most iconic hero

[@phillemon7664]

This is basically Strange Journey's Law/New Law ending so I would agree almost immediately with the guy who removes hatred. Maruki doesn't necessarily specify that he removes hatred and racism but that he makes everyone so happy that they will not want to do anything else besides bask in the world he created.

[@BitchChill]

Oh shit, my desires

[@joukhr]

ngl before i played persona the way the fandom talked about mishima made me think he’d be annoying but i actually love him and his story so much

[@IM-vv5dm]

Maruki stands out much more as he reflects the Thieves' desire to change the world and make lives better in so many satisfying ways. He's much more like a friend who's lost his way due to fear than anything else and helping him heal from his pain instead of him doing the same for others is excellent.

[@farrens_ak]

Makoto focusing on her new friends and relationships like Aika is the whole freaking point fo her growth. Her being a Student Council President is important to note because regular students usually see Student Council members, let alone the President, as authoritative figures rather than a fellow peer like a school staff member but still a student. That is why part of Makoto's growth involves interacting with a regular student such as Aika is important and Makoto having a friend outside the PT and the Student Council is a major step to her character. Student Council life (while speaking from experience) can be lonely because you're already being put on a pedestal in being one and that's why Aika seeing Makoto as another student and Aika being friends with Makoto is a major breakthrough for Makoto as this becomes a genuine friendship that Makoto feels more motivated to get to know more people better as a peer rather than just another student of Shujin that her council oversees. All throughout her life her life is dictated by her sister and the expectations that are pushed onto her. Given that she decides to "rebel" and live her own life making new friends, trying new things and decide her own goals for herself is how this confidant plays out without the expectations of others burdening her. If she never get to involve with the PT, she would've just studied, worked council jobs and get a job as dictated by her expectations rather than her own volition.

[@frisky7404]

This was a really great watch! Very entertaining and informative, and made me see Mishima in a new light.

[@ULOVMELONGTIME]

This was the perfect game to find last year.

[@dim8961]

I am absolutely astonished by the length of this review! Sure, the Persona 4 video was lenghty too but I thought it'd be a one-time thing due to the immense passion you have for that game. So to see that you made another really long review is a genuinely pleasant surprise since you always manage to keep me interested in the subject at hand with your brilliantly structured reviews. You give us your opinion on a product while also supporting those opinions with a lot of very good points! This was VERY nice to watch! Well done, man! Excelsior!

[@TheExaltofDragon]

I think it's nice that you commented on Persona 5's popularity and how its fanbase has had its impact on people's perception. I played and loved Persona 5 back when it came out but over the years the online cycle and discourse around it just burned me out and I distanced myself a lot from it. Recently on a Persona binge I finally came back and started up P5R and all of my apprehension towards it just melted away and I remembered how fond I was of the game. It's just interesting how a community can have that kind of impact on how people perceive a game and I do agree, hopefully after some time everyone will be in agreement at how good this game is. Been binging your videos through my long work days and always love your angle and the quality you put into these.

[@keneor4468]

Great video, I'm currently on the Mishima part. Mishima (much like Yosuke from P4) to me really feel like a character meant to feel right at home with the player. Sure the protagonist is a self insert and you supposedly engage with the activities you want and bond with the confidants you want. However the protagonist is always successful, no matter what. Mishima and Yusuke on the other hand try to act the same but end up falling short whatever they do. They try to be special they want to be more they engage in various things on a surface levels because it is "cool". Those characters are far closer than the player than the self insert can ever be, they are clumsy they are often made fun of but they try to do the best they can.

[@LAK_770]

It really is tragic how easy the game becomes, and how early this happens. Then somehow they let this get even worse in Royal. This is just SUCH a shame, because the combat system is IMO one of the most crisp and satisfying hardcore turn-based systems in recent years. Nonexistent difficulty is a fatal flaw for replayability in any game (unless you're a weirdo), but in a JRPG where tactical decisions are the main gameplay mechanic it's even more severe. Royal *badly* needed an extra-high difficulty level that vastly buffs enemy levels and stats, like those enemies you sometimes encounter in the 3rd semester Mementos (like the Black Frosts who will one-shot you, etc). It would have been so easy to implement this, too. It can basically be done in a spreadsheet lol.

[@azrieldreamer]

Persona 5 is my favorite game of all time Can tell this is gonna be a great video

[@into_the_tombs]

SAME!!

[@thelegendaryace1395]

Me too man.

[@azrieldreamer]

@@pvtkandahar7267 I need to play Persona 3

[@djjin5768]

I hate being such a spoilsport, but I simply, for the freaking life of me, cannot EVER get over this one scene, where Ryuji gets beaten up by his own team, especially the girls, after him having risked his whole life, saving their bacon from certain death. I am trying to get over it, but then I keep being reminded of how hypocritical this entire game is with its messaging. It's all about overcoming society, all about defying the norms and all this, refusing to be like the rotten adults you keep fighting against... and in the exact same breath, completely belittle, insult or continously criticize their one team mate that always ends up with the short end of the deal. It's ALWAYS Ryuji. Always him. It doesn't help that Morgana is the one team mate that, for some reason, has this almost twisted need to repeatedly treat Ryuji like shit, insulting him, repeatedly treating him like he is a useless donkey or something, trying to feed off of his anger, which is unnecessarily nasty and meanspirited, it's not even comical, it feels like genuine malice. And then the team has the audacity to always give Ryuji crap whenever he does or say something stupid, but for some reason, NEVER Morgana, in spite of him being the repeated offender in being the one with the inferiority complex here. How is all of this any different from how the rotten adults abuse their power to gain what they desire to achieve? Maybe I am missing something, but the fact remains: This hypocrisy pisses me off. And the blatant hypocrisy in the team's motivation in being "the hope for the masses" is reflected upon how little consideration they have for Ryuji's well-being. He went through domestic abuse at home by his drunk ass father, he had to deal with Kamoshida who ended up busting up his leg, thus ending his dreams of ever becoming a true champion on the track and making everyone hate him, then Ren just leaves him at the mercy of two grown ass men, who could have potentially raped him if all went dodgy and then he gets beaten up by his own team mates, all for having made one single inappropriate comment, right after he made it out alive, in the end. So much for trying to be good role models, amirite? As if they completely forgot about what their good friend and co-founder went through to even form this team in the first place. If you have friends like this, you won't need any enemies. And I am especially disappointed in Makoto in this instance of that scene, because she is supposed to be the more grown up secondary leader figure in the team. The fact that she not only doesn't step in for Ryuji, but also ends up JOINING the girls in beating him nearly to death... this is completely OOC for her to do. She is aggressive, yeah, but she isn't an unhinged beast, who just enjoys beating up someone she is supposed to watch over. And Futaba... no offence to her, I love her just like the next person, but let me ask: She is not a fighter, she is a navigator. How. In the sweet name. Of merciful shit. Is she capable of automatically flooring someone as physically tough as Ryuji? It's a freaking insult. Nothing more. Could he be humiliated any more? This type of mistreatment may potentially ruin any good will you may have with all these characters, if they preach something really loud, but end up not keeping a promise with someone else, that is part of their cause. This is what really throws me off. Why get worked up over anime humor like that? Well, if a joke is written at the expense of the character, then it comes off as malicious and tonedeaf to the entire message of the game. Case closed. FUCK. THIS. SCENE.

[@sergiosalazar8702]

Dude we get it, it’s BAD and stupid I don’t know if this makes it worse, but that scene was voted the 5th favorite in the game in a Japanese poll earlier this year iirc Ig it’s more of a cultural preference (it’s still bad).

[@lildrawhub1025]

​@@sergiosalazar8702 Japan's culture is fucking retarded if THAT was their 5th favorite scene out of all the scenes in the game. That scene is like a stain of cum on an otherwise beautiful piece of media. I wish it never existed and the person who thought that was a good idea needs to be punched in the gut a couple of times.

[@djjin5768]

@@sergiosalazar8702 Cultural preference? So basically, you mean to tell me that it's unacceptable to hug a person, after they barely escaped from the brink of death, which basically is how every normal human being would react, if they had basic human empathy and a close relation to said individual, but beating them up out of EMOTION... yeah, seems fucking legit. I am sorry, I fail to see how this makes any goddamn sense. And you can't excuse this with "it's anime", because then you end up sounding like you ENDORSE this toxic demeanor. And aside from this, why is this so easily forgotten by the group, wiping it under the rug as if all is well? It isn't, imagine if your closest friends end up greeting you the same way they did after they had believed you to be dead. Doesn't feel too nice, does it? But it's OK folks, Ryuji is not very liked in Japan to begin with, so that makes it fine. It actually astonishes me, how tonedeaf this entire scenario is, mind-boggling.

[@t-universegamer7609]

@@djjin5768 I see your point I agree its pretty stupid, but saying like it "endorse toxic behaviour" is also dumb. It's a game and also a joke scene you're not supposed to take seriously. You may not like it, but that doesn't change anything. That's like saying DOOM causes violence because it glorifies gore and brutality. Its not real, it doesnt matter.

[@djjin5768]

@@t-universegamer7609 I know what you're trying to say, but the main issue isn't just THAT scene in particular. It's the total accumilation of ALL scenes combined, in which Ryuji always ends up with the short end of the deal and that scene after Shido's Palace is the straw that breaks the camel's back. It hammers the message home. It's like the cherry on top of the shit sundae. All this wouldn't even be so bad... if it wasn't for the fact that, again, Ryuji is a clear cut case of a physical abuse victim. He has a documentated history of having suffered physical and mental abuse from both his family's half, the school and the PE teacher. It really leaves nothing but a sour taste in anyone's mouth and it makes you question: Do these people really even truly care about Ryuji, if they are fine with beating the crap out of him, ever so casually, just to vent their frustrations? Didn't his drunk ass father also do that? Or, so I think at least, it wasn't ever truly explained, but the likeliness is there, so again, if they were real friends to him, they would have known that this is a total no-go. But they did it anyway. Maybe I'm taking it too seriously, but there is a reason for that: Humor may be subjective, but if it's done at the expense of someone else personally, done in REALLY bad taste, then yeah, you HAVE criticize it. Because for one thing, the joke isn't funny anymore, knowing the full context behind the character and seeing how really inappropriate this entire scenario is, in terms of timing, buildup and for another, it paints the entire team as completely inconsiderate assholes, despite them being all about the holy virtues. And yeah, you may bring the argument that Yosuke from Persona 4 and that trash can joke, can also easily be brought in the same vein to the attention of others, but I will say, at least the timing is way more appropriate there, because it happens AT THE VERY START OF THE GAME, where you don't even know anything about him yet. So only once you get to know him, you realize, he isn't trash or a "total disappointment", it's kind of a smart way to defy the expectations you may have about him. But also, aside from spin offs, the joke is not repeated throughout small parts of the game. Big difference there.

[@GlitchyPixExtra]

I really liked Yusuke's confidant but I will admit that I was very distracted from the message, mostly because the stuff he and Akiren get up to is super endearing, he and Akiren just kinda have a really sweet friendship. Plus, the ending of it where the game tries to imply that Madarame secretly had a heart was...iffy to me. I'm all for nuance in these sorts of games but Persona 5, both its main games and Strikers, generally wear its morals on its sleeves which makes Madarame's tiny bit of last-second nuance being unremarked upon really iffy. I'm not saying the game is trying to excuse Madarame's actions because it doesn't outright do that but, with how Okumura is treated after his death, how Zenkichi and Akane are handled and how Konoe's backstory is treated by the PTs in Strikers, I feel like I'm slightly justified to feel a bit put-off. I do hope it's just a bit of nuance though because I do genuinely think Yusuke's wish in Maruki's reality being not to bring his mother back but to live with Madarame again is a genuinely good and interesting representation of how some abuse victims will feel about their abusers if the game doesn't believe Madarame was secretly a good person

[@kevinmay9151]

well the thing with Okumura is that he wasn't suppose to die, and the PT never had any intent of killing anyone knowing they didn't need to. Changing hearts is just the fact that they have the power to change more or less irredeemable people in places of power for the better and when there are no other options. They were even iffy about possibly killing Kamoshida because it's a heavy burden to bear. Haru was about to possibly have a stable father and it got taken away from her. That's the thing with Okumura, no one tries to paint him as a good person, they're just sorry that he lost his life because that was not the morality that the PT follow nor the public wanted.

[@GlitchyPixExtra]

@@kevinmay9151 I still take issue with that, especially considering Strikers seemingly completely forgets that Okumura's crimes in Mariko's arc. Besides, when the game just sort of hastily pushes all his issues to the side and then doesn't really bring them up again, even after the guy is revived in the third semester, the general impression is going to be that Okumura wasn't so bad. That's even the impression Nam presents in the video, stating that he wasn't that bad and that's why the Phantom Thieves were targeting him for the wrong reasons. Besides, Haru wouldn't even have had a stable home life with her father anyways, he likely would've been imprisoned because of his involvement with the mental shutdowns

[@kevinmay9151]

@@GlitchyPixExtra well Maruki's reality is based on the wishes of everyone, and Haru wished that she had a stable relationship with her father(if I'm remembering correctly I think it was specifically more time with her father). The characters only said "we don't know if he's evil" and then they meet haru go into his palace and decide they are going after him, they have context. Like no one ever denied her father was an awful person, but at the end of the day that's someone who Haru still cared about, and when you lose someone you care about you give condolences. I don't ever remember hearing the game, in the 3 times I played it saying He was actually a good guy, it was that they were sorry for Haru's loss. Regardless of how someone in your life is treating you, if it's your horrible father who died you are going to feel emotional regardless of what horrible actions that person did. That's just being a human being. the same way that Makoto can't bring herself to hate Sae despite how she treats her and what she almost did. Also I really remember why strikers could possibly need to bring it up.

[@GlitchyPixExtra]

@@kevinmay9151 Yes but that's not the point I brought up, my issue is the fact the game just brushes it all aside and kind of just ignores it, never really talking about his issues after his death and giving the maybe unintentional but implicit impression that those issues don't matter. Sure, you could say that's just an interpretation but it's a pretty common one and it's one that Strikers brings up.

[@dafire9634]

thanks for the content nam "just because someone disagrees with another's perspective, that isnt an excuse to treat them poorly" have you like,not been on social media,especially twitter in the last few years,that's literally all it is,it's very rare to find actual constructive discussion anywhere

[@montague4931]

Been looking forward to this. P5 was my first Persona game and I’m looking forward to SMT5. Many thanks:)

[@bonnjust4001]

Same.

[@pixelbit9276]

This video came out at the perfect time since I just finished Royal today.

[@Rilobster]

Alright, *finally* finished this one. I can safely say this video is pretty dang good. While I didn't agree with everything, I will not attack those points because this was a 2 hour video I watched over the course of 4 days and frankly I just dont remember what I had problems with. I will call you out on instant kill tho. It's not that bad. I think you were just overleveled. In my playthrough, I recall not being able to instant kill most enemies in the palaces. Mementos tho? That's a different story entirely, one that is filled with countless acts of vehicular manslaughter. I didn't ever feel underleveled either, I'd say I was just about on par with what is intended. And I know this point is like the last resort argument, but there's nothing forcing you to use instant kill. If you found it to be a gameplay ruiner, you should've stopped using it. But at the same time I understand taking the instant win button so i wont harp on this any longer. I will say that I'm glad that a big persona youtube man finally praised mishima. I said it in your discord, and I'll say it again here. anyone who hates mishima IS mishima irl and just can't accept the fact that he acts like them. He was a good example of how mementos can make a social link hit that much harder. I mean he's basically just a P4 party member done as a social link. Isn't it funny how the two "P4 characters" in this game are both huge nerds who are generally maligned by the persona community? I'll probably pick this video apart in the discord over the course of the next few months as I rewatch this video over and over again because it was just that damn good. Nice job man. Your improvement over time is evident. I look forward to your future content. And if you read this entire comment, thanks.

[@djjamz2887]

The time has come... Everything has been building up to this... Are you ready... To watch another great Nam video on Persona In all seriousness though you come so far, Im impressed and keep it up

[@andresalonsomartinez3070]

'Most discussion comes around from the silly situations _ and _ are involved' Man you just described the whole Persona 4/5 fanbase

[@Necokeniii]

I just finished royal and maruki and kasumi were AMAZING. I understand why maruki ended up how he did, but I'm glad I unlocked the third semester. I didn't like akechi in the base game but after seeing his story I feel bad but relatable to him. Akechi didn't believe anyone cared about him until joker, but I wish he was a romance option and joker got more time with him.

[@Slug_ssbm]

As someone who’s favorite character in the entire series is Iwai: I’m so glad you also find his story and character so intriguing.

[@grayghost6704]

I just thought of something: Sojiro mentions he’s getting paid to take Ren in at the beginning of the story, what if he only agreed to it because he needed the money to pay off Futaba’s Uncle? When Ren asks why he agreed to care for him in early April, Sojiro gives a dodgy answer, what if that answer and the idea of a customer knowing Ren’s parents was all fluff to hide the truth?

[@ToddlerJamees]

I truly like the quirky moment of yusuke posting and main protagonist. That is a highlight of social links story for me.

[@KeyToAeris2024]

I got into this game during quarantine when the world basically ended. I had nothing to do so I was sinking like 8 hours per day into it and the story kept me hooked for the whole time the combat was fun THIS is the game that got me into Megaten and you know what I still consider it one of the best ones.

[@missasyan]

"I don't make these videos just to give people the opinions that they want to hear." *shows clip of Akechi's interview* oh you bastard you--but seriously, that's exactly why I watched this, it's the first Persona game I've played and I am aware me being absolutely besotted with Akechi might have made me not pay attention much to the story and wow damn you are really convincing... I never gave much thought into the two sides of the same coin, I just thought that Akira and Akechi are incredibly similar and if Akechi just hadn't been alone through all that he wouldn't be so tragic. But I do get what you're saying a little, if Akechi represents law and Akira chaos then why the hell does he switch from "My sole interest is uncovering the truth" to "I decide the truth". They're so drastically different, and while I get he kinda got that Gemini energy it seems too much to fit into one character...one explanation from another said that Akechi later on understands a little more about the Phantom Thieves, and also does care for the masses' right to decide their own future, so is that a small part of his Robin Hood ideals showing, even if he mostly uses Loki/Hereward? I'm not big brained enough to understand well how the hell Akechi even works, I guess his heart has different facets and one time perhaps he truly believed in true justice, from being wronged by Shido and possibly foster parents he might've seen, but that soon turned into a deep hatred for Shido and doing anything to get revenge...(Aside from Akechi not really embodying "law", Akira doesn't seem to embody "chaos" that much either, he steals hearts to fix the world and rid it of evil, thereby lessening chaos. Even switching it, I don't think any of them fit law or chaos.) Oh well that's all the thinking I'll do for today thanks for letting me borrow the comment section, also Maruki is definitely the best antagonist I've ever seen because goddamn do I agree hard with what he says, and me not yet going through major hardships that have changed me prolly makes me not really seeing anything wrong with me getting happiness without picking how...amazing video, my breakfasts for four days straight was spent watching this and wowzers that was fun and gave me stuff to think about. You're a cool guy, I'm subbing!

[@toastynachoos]

Persona 5- the greatest game that won't ever be topped for me. Some people might think I'm wrong, but *let me explain!* When I was nine, I fell into a *deep* depression and amoungst other things, stopped going to school, so I felt like my life had no meaning, and that I deserved it, because, my brain made me think that I was all sort of things ('interested' in animals, my brother, mother, anyone in my 'family,' and the worst one, little kids.) And during that period I started to realize that I'm Gay, and so, everything happening all at the same time made me *REALLY* depressed. And while anti-deppressents helped a lot, I was still just sitting, sulking around, not making any progress on feeling better. (and the places that where supposed to help me, arguably made things worse, and they only focused on getting me back to school, and not making me feel better first.) But one faithful day in February of 2020 I wanted my mom to borrow Persona 5 from the library when she went to the store (because I like(d) playing SSBU and I wanted to main joker, but I wanted to find out more about Persona 5 before trying to main him cuz that's the way I am, and an already long story a bit shorter... I got trash at SSBU cuz I played Persona 5 for two weeks straight and lived out the life I'm still working for so hard for, but that wasn't the thing that helped me, it was the Deaphs of Mementos. I got frustrated with the people down there, just wanting someone, something, be it a God, or Demon or anything in-between granting them a free pass through life, and in Yaldabaoth's words "Having the freedom not to choose, the freedom not to think..." And after giving the world, or at least Japan a change of heart, and having my heart acke and tears in my eyes, I realized something- I was part of the people in the deaphs- even though I was eleven years old when I realized that, I also knew that just because I am a child, it doesn't mean I can't change my own heart, and even my life!... But then my previously precived strong resolve dissapated. I know this next part's gonna seem fake AF, but you've come this far, so you'd better listen to this! (~~or else...~~) And after I felt like "Well, I'm an eleven year old, and I don't wanna have to do this anymore!" (trying to better myself, by myself) and started having thoughts like I wish things where easier, and I wish I could have a normal childhood, and then I heard about P5R, and asked my mom to borrow it from the library, finished that game, and felt ashamed that I'd ever want to live in such a sick world. In a way, my life has many similarities to The Phantom Thieves- Ryuji, our personalities are the most similar of the Phantoms- Morgana, I can be kind of a brat allota times (working on that)- Futaba, we where in very similar situations, we both have autism, we both felt self hatered, we're both working on getting our lives back together- Sumire for feeling like they're worthless (not as much anymore thankfully) and Joker (Akira, Ren, or my name for him- Akinari Kose) for having a strong sense of justice, and wanting to help others. And if you're wondering how I'm doing now, I'm doing well. I now have my own room that I sleep in, put clothes on every day, go up more and grab stuff like juice, reconnected with a online friend and we're having a lotta fun, especially now that she's able to play more since it's summer vacation (yes, it's FortNut, but it's fun to play duos with a friend, don't @ me 😑) and I've stopped with the Drug that is candy, FANTA, and cheese doodles, and I've gone down significantly in weight, and most importantly, I Love Life. And if it wheren't for Persona 5 I would've held on to that way of living, and life won't change! That way.

[@djona6734]

wow, what a story, but... you don't need to change, you must accept what you like, except for things that break the law... persona 5 is my favorite game because its anither life, i play videogames not for fun, i play videogames to escape from reality, where i have no friends, the only one that i have don't speak with me, because he discover that im gay, we were best friends, but now, just because of my fucking sexuality he don't wanna know a shit of me. sorry for the bad English, I'm Brazilian, i learned english with persona 5 too.

[@toastynachoos]

@@djona6734 Oh, nononono, everything got confusing because I found out I was Gay, and then I thought, "if I'm Gay, maybe I'm also a pedoph*le?" Because I had like... I dunno, hightened sensitivity... Down there- I guess because a chemical imbalance(?) but when I saw attractive men, I also felt... The same way (God, that's embarrassing to type), so it was all so confusing. But in the end, those chemical imbalance reactions to young kid's are easier to handle now! And I've accepted, fully, that I'm Gay! But to clarify, the things I wanted to change was- • Sleeping in my own bed •Going out of the house more • Putting on cloths every day • Having a friend • Grabbing my own things more And most importantly... *Get a PS5* And doing all of those things have made me radically more happy! And it all wouldn't have happened if not for the *Phantom Thieves* enacting a little change of heart in me!

[@djona6734]

@@toastynachoos oh... A ps5, unfortunately a ps5 here costs R$4800 and the normal salary is R$1000, I bought my PS4 just in September of 2020 for R$2000 because I wanted to play the last of us 2 lol, you are so lucky to live in a country with a "good economic situation" I dunno how to say that sorry, in the future I'll live in USA or Canada and stop paying 1/4 of my salary in a single game...

[@toastynachoos]

@@djona6734 It was just a stroke of luck, but I love it!

[@Ducksen]

Love how real you keep your analysis, it's critical but fair. Too many people ride this game's dick or shit all over it for the sake of contrarianism, brilliant but flawed is a much better take than the infamous "style over substance" video.

[@anthonychessar7179]

"Style Over Substance" is not only THE WORST P5 review, but probably one of the worst reviews ever! It doesn't respect the game in the slightest(beit refusal to learn anything and general ignorance because Cvit clearly didn't give a single DAMN about the game he was reviewing.) It didn't respect the audience or their intelligence(many things said are straight up LIES or from ignorance and people are just supposed to beleive him. Not to mention he keeps stating his opinions as if their "facts" which is just horrible.) And it definitely doesn't respect the audience's time(cause you have to endure this shit show for 5 HOURS!) There are probably some good criticisms......but you'll never find them under this literal mountain of crap.

[@stevenpham1044]

Oh, you know I gotta make some popcorn for this one.

[@mrbubbles6468]

‘You can call Ryuji out’ Yes. And it changes nothing. It doesn’t stop the fact that he’s the one that gets you in all the issues and you as a player have no way of stopping it. Even after he’s already outed you at least once. That’s why people get annoyed with him.

[@therandowanderer]

It felt they overdid that part for sure and just because Ryuji could accidentally out us the writers used that too many times for sake of furthering plot which is definitely why it's so frustrating to see.

[@petch9831]

Love the video P5R is one of my favorite games I have ever played and you do a great job Nam going over it and its themes. Just wanted to quickly add my feelings on the whole law Akechi theme. I personally viewed it as while joker wants to do things to generally be good and beneficial he still is changing the status quo. He can be viewed as the chaotic half because through his actions society and people go through drastic changes. In contrast to Akechi who while doing heinous acts for self-purpose he actively isn't putting any effort into changing things. His facade only reinforces those parts and would rather everything stay the same while furthering his agenda. Just wanted to add my 2 cents and love the video!!

[@scuffed7648]

Persona 5 Royal is my favorite game of all time, the original was my first megaten game and it’s what made me fall in love with the franchise and I can replay it again and again without getting bored. That being said I’m well aware of all the flaws in the game, the confidants are some of the weaker in the series with them always finding out your a phantom thief and you basically always solving there problems for them using mementos. It just doesn’t feel like your really helping them grow as a person or that the friendship you have is really genuine since you always start it with the purpose of getting something out of it. The gameplay is another problem, I love the gameplay but even I acknowledge that even on the hardest difficulty the game is not even that hard and despite having what’s in my opinion some of the best dungeon design in all of Megami Tensei. The party members are my favorite in Persona and yeah some of them (cough cough Haru) deserve more fleshing out. The story also has its troubles but with how much of a masterpiece the third semester was a lot of my problems with the original persona 5 story is alleviated, particularly in the ending. The original persona 5s ending felt hollow a bit, it doesn’t feel like any of the party member grew as people or really developed, I get that’s what there confidants are for but we don’t really see it in the main story. But with the third semester and the new ending we really see each and every one of them develop as people and learn to move on from everything even if they’re separated. It’s a more bittersweet and mature ending then the original persona 5. Overall like I said Persona 5 Royal is my favorite game of all time but to say it’s a perfect game would be completely false. There’s also the fan base but we don’t really talk about that (seriously if I see one more person who never even played the game beg for a switch port I’m going to f***ing lose it)

[@NaramSinofAkkad790]

The text messages don't do enough to make up for the lack of scenes where the group just hangs out as friends. They're repetitive and beat you over the head with information you already know. The few golden nuggets of text exchanges are buried under a mountain of easily skippable dialogue.

[@thegaminginkling6470]

2:17:06 ”Which is why it’s so frustrating to see people overlook the great aspects of Persona 5 and only focus on the dumb small parts of the game that little affect on the game’s overall quality in order to prove that it’s a bad game” CoughCoughCvitCough!

[@yibby7]

reminds me of a lot hate that xenoblade 2 gets lol

[@thegaminginkling6470]

@@yibby7 Definitely!

[@JoshtheOverlander]

Oh dude, Cvit!! *"I see", MY ASS!"*

[@MrToonlink53]

@@yibby7 As a big fan of Fire Emblem Awakening and Xenoblade 2 I'm use to it at this point.

[@AlphaOmega08922]

Previous comment was written right after you finished talking about Mishima, this one is coming after having finished the video. I gotta say, Persona 5 Royal was my introduction to the series, and it stands as one of my favorite games of all time. That said, I 100% agree with almost everything you said here. I stand by my earlier comments on Mishima, but I also think it's a mistake to write ANY of P5Rs Confidants off. All of them are really good stories, in my opionion. Some are better than others, yes, and certain ones don't have the same emotional impact as others, but with such a wide variety of characters, it's almost impossible to find a person who can connect emotionally to every single character. For me, Futaba and Sojiro's Confidants hit the hardest because I have a good friend who went through very similar struggles in custody battles and the like, with one of her parents trying to use her as a weapon against the other. Perhaps I'm biased towards their characters because of that, but that still just goes to show that the game has something for everyone to enjoy and relate to. And I think that that is the true beauty of the game. All in all, gameplay in the later stages might be lackluster due to the sharp decrease in difficulty, especially if you decide to start making specific Persona builds that can break Joker. But it doesn't take away from the story in the slightest, and as a person who generally prefers a compelling story over great gameplay with a poorly told story, I'm okay with the lackluster gameplay. I love the story, at the end of the day, and I can play the game over and over again for that simple fact.

[@Juni_Bowman]

2:00:00 I played p5 as my first game and because I had no idea what his voice was supposed to sound like, the twist worked amazingly. It felt like it was from the perspective of joker rather then from the perspective of a persona player

[@Aspi3Gam3r]

"Brilliant, but Flawed" What Cvit's infamous "Style over Substance" Persona 5 critique video SHOULD have been!

[@sergiosalazar8702]

That whole video was just wrong :/

[@kevinmay9151]

@@sergiosalazar8702 and I feel like there are a couple fanboys in this comment section either making complaints straight out of Cvits video or trying to bring it down, because this video took Cvit’s topic and actually made a good video about it. It’s able to Imply that this game was flawed while also seeing how the good outweighted the bad and talked about everything in a constructive way(especially the confidants oh my god).

[@Aspi3Gam3r]

@@sergiosalazar8702 So wrong in fact it was worthy of an EFAP episode with Mauler and friends Which we more or less got from that Manga Kamen youtuber a while back

[@justinianthe1st790]

While Cvits video about the gameplay is wrong, I really did resonate with his grievances about the writing. Baring some obvious flaws in his criticism such as I believe it was his criticism of Futaba's palace and shadow design not making any sense. He was right on other things imo. The story really does feel absurdly contrived from time to time. Such as Shido just so happening to be the same guy who almost ruined your life, trying to be the PM for Japan and being essentially the illumantii and just so happens to be Akechis dad...I'm sorry but that's alot to buy. Akechi is also a joke of a character imo, but you probably already know why I feel that way. You either agree or disagree and you are entitled to however you feel. But I believe Akechi is the biggest waste of potential, and was turned into Adachi with daddy issues. Not to mention him being able to live in royal...sigh... Oh and alot of the characters have really bizzare moments or narratives that make me just wanna bang my head against the wall. For example the Morgana and Ryuji conflict, and also being the only way we got introduced to Haru as a companion. As for other really bad narratives, case in point Futabas Social link...I've never cringed and said yikes so much till I did that one. Theres also the themes of wanting to change the status quo and trying to be your own person...but that loses its meaning when you keep forcing people to be good. Now I'm not here to debate if that is good or not, I just wish the game wouldnt ignore the hypocrisy of turning the bad guys into fundamentally different people against their will. But at the same time the story and characters will say its wrong to force people to be blissfully ignorant cause theres no choice or freedom. That...I cant just ignore that. It's one thing to make people good cause more people will be harmed if you dont, but when their criticism is what I listed above, you have essentially (no pun intended) lost the plot and are being hypocrites with nothing in story to actually acknowledge it. Theres so much more to talk about, but I dont wanna be here all day. For me P5 has the best turn based gameplay of any JRPG ever. But probably the most annoying, infuriating writing I've seen, if for no other reason than because it can be so much better but just isnt. It tries way too hard, is one way to put it. I havent played Royal so I dont know how much of the story and characters has been remedied. But I really dont feel like buying the same game with updated and added content with DLC that cost as much as the og game.

[@sergiosalazar8702]

@@Aspi3Gam3r Yeah, I did watch that video

[@dees2101]

Absolutely agree with the point: "Having moments of levity to make moments of tension hit much harder." At times im so caught up with the good vibes of the social sims and then felt genuinely distressed when the main plot kicks back in.

[@Tachibana_Tsukasa]

1:59:30 a big reason the voice was changed is because the japanese voice actor of igor died and that's also why he only has lines that are reused from older games when brought back.

[@littlea420]

Woah i didnt even know that

[@RaspyCh]

Yea but for the English version, they hired an all new VA just to voice old lines.

[@heppuplays9125]

The one thing i Didn't like about P5s social link System is that I found my self Thinking of it as a Chore. Instead of Going to social links to See their story /character growth. like in persona 4. I found my self caring more about the Ability i'll get instead of just enjoying the Storyline of the Slinks. Like i remember more what skills i can get from a character Than what their Struggle was.

[@RaspyCh]

This^

[@insertnamehere658]

I don't agree at all. At least for the 1st playthrough, but in subsequent playthroughs, it feels like that in all of the games.

[@amadeux5471]

After all has been said and done, I'd always refer Person 3, 4 and 5 with the highest possible standard. I've never loved and played a franchise so much and that's after the fact that I was exposed to Monster Hunter, GTA, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed, Star Wars (the actual good ones lmao), Uncharted, God of War (although 4 was literally perfect), Zelda, etc. There's just something about the Persona universe that draws me in. Also, their soundtrack are arguably the best in the gaming industry.

[@NinjaGirlSakura1]

Maruki was such a better and more impactful final boss than Yaldeboth was by a long shot

[@kokoala9354]

I like the amount of love this video has for Yusuke and doesnt see him only for his comedic eccentricity. Yusuke is my fav in the game not cuz he's funny but cuz he's very pure. despite his criminal lack of active role in the story, im still somehow content with him cuz of his input in the team's issues. whenever he's not being the funny man he can be very insightful too, around the same level as Makoto. he's just different in that he sees things at a fundamental level. I think thats his main gripe as a confidant too; Yusuke longs for what is fundamentally genuine.

[@chainsofgames]

He’s pure but wants to force ann to get naked at threat of prosecuting her friends. Bro what

[@kokoala9354]

@@chainsofgames Yea even now I dont fully get that part. Im guessing he's under pressure or something cuz he was still under Madarame at that time, he couldnt even paint anything from that at all. Also from Yusuke's pov they were being very nosy and intrusive. I dont know why he dropped the whole nude motif after Madarame's palace tho, actually hoped he kept for the laughs but he even seemed against it altogether.

[@chainsofgames]

@@kokoala9354 I mean he is justified to threaten them with police. But he’s also not justified to say I’ll only not do that if you get naked for me. Idk for me it killed any desire for me to even want to use his character or level his link especially when he’s placed right after the kamoshida arc.

[@kokoala9354]

​@@chainsofgames honestly the whole thing with Ann and Yusuke is really blurry not just with the nude painting so i find it easy to just let it pass. I mean the game itself is taking the nude part lightly, Ryuji pokes fun at it and so can you in the dialogues, its also weird how Ann never dwelled on it or anything and had no gripes about Yusuke joining the party. Its also like the game is pinning them together, like Yusuke intending to stay at Ann's which I never got the idea for, and Ann almost always ending up in Yusuke's arms when the gang crashes their transition with the metaverse. But being morally right or wrong is beside his charm point for me; its the fact that he'll say or do even the unpleasant things straight in your face, no deceit no backstabbing whatsoever.

[@GavinFromWeb]

I agree, Mishima IS underrated!

[@YBPaladin]

I always felt that P5 got weighed down by it's anime BS. Like, why are we (as a teenager) dating adults after what happened to Shiho?

[@LoksTheGamer]

In my opinion, the Third Semester makes the game obsolete because it's so good. The main story feels lacking to me compared to the other games, I liked the main cast but they didn't work for me and the villains were a bit disappointing. However, the game still had great elements that kept me playing through and experience more of the story.

[@riplix20]

This throws “ it’s about the journey not the destination “ to the wayside If it takes more than half the game for it to “get good” can you really call it a good game? Is it a good game that is half bad, or is it a bad game with a great ending?

[@pforgottonsoul]

@@riplix20 no it's definitely a good game, i was just as blown away the first time i played it as i was with royal.

[@joaoassumpcao3347]

@@riplix20 It's more like "it's a good game with great moments until the third semester when it becomes full-on great"

[@caracalfloppa4997]

@@riplix20 It's a good game with a handful of pretty dull moments that I had to push through and some great ones. Overall I think it's just impossible to make a game with a 100+ hour run time engaging at every moment. While the game tries to give you as many options as possible to mitigate this, your brain naturally finds less enjoyment in greater durations of repetition. Part of why I personally enjoyed the third semester is that it changed things up just enough to feel fresh again with a new story arc that doesn't overstay its welcome.

[@witheburning8756]

Funilly enough, I personally prefered the plot before the third semester. I liked it but i'm more into hype anime shit than deep emotional story. I guess everyone has their own taste

[@ZenKrio]

The major issue with Akechis twist is that if you've seen Death Note, you'd immediately see Akechi as evil because he's so clearly inspired by Light Yagami (same artist as well iirc). The second I saw his art, I said "Heh, they put Light in this game, he's clearly the traitor". In saying that though, it wasn't the twist that he was evil that made his whole character compelling, it was you trying to figure out why he was doing everything he was. You knew he was going to betray you, it was the Why that kept you hooked. However, Royal is great for him because it shows that he's willing to indirectly kill himself as long as it means he's his own person and not controlled by someone else.

[@mjwgames9812]

You know what's funny. That's how I knew it was Adachi in Persona 4. His VA being Johnny Young Bosch made me immediately suspicious of him. God damn soul reaper

[@ZenKrio]

@@mjwgames9812 lol yah it was funny for me. **Adachi runs across the screen to throw up** Me to friend: "He's the boss of the game." Friend: "Why do you think that!?" Me: "Zero reason to make that moment a thing unless he is." Friend: "Wow, that's a reach." **60 hours later** Me: "Better pick up that phone... BECAUSE I FUCKING CALLED IT!"

[@jmurray1110]

Honestly it went right over my head Maybe it’s because I only saw it once but I was just blind to it Fuck I didn’t even noticed delicious pancakes until a revisit but his betrayal was still obvious

[@daiyahigashikata]

who told you it's the same artist lmao

[@daiyahigashikata]

​@@ZenKrio that is an absolutely massive reach, there's no way you didn't know beforehand. if you used that logic you could make nearly any character from the first hour of the game the killer.

[@BictorBedeFan]

found it very funny how you played each party members’ introduction dungeon theme until haru

[@mykuuuuuu]

I played the game on merciless and it ended up being easier than every other difficulty. I died ONCE on merciless and that was because of a random critical hit on joker that killed him instantly pretty early on in the game. Edit: P5R is still a phenomenal game even with all of its flaws. The third semester knocked it out of the park with probably the two most appealing characters in Persona: Akechi and Sumire.

[@ivaniawren5014]

I love this video, so well made, but one argument I don't understand is the idea that it's "too easy" because it makes grinding easier. Grinding is always possible? The idea with a leveled rpg is that the player determines their own difficulty. Nobody is forcing you to grind up to the point that the game is a cakewalk? That's your own choice with the tools you have, and it's true of any rpg where you can grind?

[@daiyahigashikata]

grinding being easy is not what makes p5r ridiculously easy though.

[@ivaniawren5014]

@@daiyahigashikata but it is the argument the video made, that I'm replying to, and grinding makes *any* rpg with a strict level system and theoretically infinite exp easier, because higher numbers win?

[@brythkaltaris]

i cant possibly write down all my thoughts in 1 comment, hence this being my third. third semester is genius. ill take your statement another step further: Maruki is the best antagonist is all of RPGs, maybe even gaming. it is scary how well thought out and fleshed out it is. its absolutely incredible. i cant even say anything more about it, you hit every point i could talk about already. there is so much emotion packed into that one palace that is unmatched with the other palaces

[@chapterhawk]

Hifumi was originally going to be a playable character, but they ran out of time so she wasn't as developed as they hoped for her to be.

[@daiyahigashikata]

they didn't run out of time, they just decided the game was long enough and it would just pad out the run time even more if she was included.

[@epicgreywolf5279]

Makoto is one of my fave charachters in the game but i do agree with you on her confidant story, wish it was more about her.

[@mihaimercenarul7467]

more? less you mean

[@Anon_wulf]

I might've missed it or something somehow but I'm kinda surprised the thieves den was never brought up. Not that whether it's in there or not ruins the video for me, I was just curious. The video is still great regardless!

[@Nyarlathotep727]

Atlus should've added a Custom Difficulty like increase the enemies health by double or triple, have enemies do more damage to the player and you do less damage. Kind of like P4G but with more options.

[@rinngu618]

I think this type of dificulty is handled better in an action rpg, instead of a per-turn combat Rpg

[@alecgarza1160]

Thank you for making this. I just finished my first playthrough of the game a few days ago. I couldn't agree more with the points you made about what is good and what is bad about the game. Your script was excellent and you spent the perfect amount of time on each topic to cover it fully but not overdo it. Mad respect 🙌

[@kevinhixson1586]

I kinda disagree with your take on the chaos and law avatars, because a person who represents law in a corrupt, unjust society would be upholding the law for his people while smashing the book on people who stand against it, while vice versa a person who represents chaos in a conformist, corrupt, unjust society would be fighting for freedom, "justice" etc. and of course rebelling against it.