Persona 5

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5569 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,794 out of 5569
  2. Mixed: 212 out of 5569
  3. Negative: 563 out of 5569
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  1. IPintheForest
    Apr 25, 2017
    7
    This is a good game that has a few frustrating elements in it.
    You get to choose what to do on your own free time. Spending time with party members increases their skill level and other activities usually net your main character skill points or money. At first i thought this would make the game a lot more interesting because you could do multiple playthroughs but apparantly i was wrong.    This is a good game that has a few frustrating elements in it.
    You get to choose what to do on your own free time. Spending time with party members increases their skill level and other activities usually net your main character skill points or money. At first i thought this would make the game a lot more interesting because you could do multiple playthroughs but apparantly i was wrong. the way you supposed to play is maxing your main character skills then they are saved on new game+ where you can focus on the other things like social links. I do not understand why anyone would think that this is good game design.
    The cat companion won't allow you to anything after you had story event on the same day or the next day which feels like 99% of the game. The cat commands you to go directly to bed whatever you're trying to do it will not allow except for making infiltration tools which is normally a time consuming activity so it's weird why that is allowed but nothing else. (The cat thinks making tools is the smart thing to do however it won't even notify you that is an option while commanding you go to sleep right the hell now.) Activities that actually require the player to something and which you can fail somehow net less rewards than passive activities even when you complete them perfectly it makes no sense at all. do a crossword puzzle fail you get nothing succeed you get 2 knowledge points vs go have dinner and earn 3 free knowledge points + 1 free kindness/guts point without possibility of failure.    … Expand
  2. sityoazzdown
    Apr 29, 2017
    7
    An amazing game that will almost certainly take regular players over 100 hours to complete. Apart from a few pacing issues here and there (and general repetitiveness), this game is addictive and unique. The cast of characters and story, plus the addictive and rewarding game play makes this game shine. Yes it does get repetitive, but the rewards whether that be for the perks for hanging outAn amazing game that will almost certainly take regular players over 100 hours to complete. Apart from a few pacing issues here and there (and general repetitiveness), this game is addictive and unique. The cast of characters and story, plus the addictive and rewarding game play makes this game shine. Yes it does get repetitive, but the rewards whether that be for the perks for hanging out with friends, or grinding for better personas, the repetitiveness for me was worth it in the long haul. Plus the majority of the side stories (hanging out with confidants) are truly interesting. Now the core gameplay consists of traversing about 8-9 dungeons, each truly unique and different from each other, until you reach the end boss. Combat consists of turn based gameplay, you either grind away or target enemies weaknesses, forming your own team of "personas" (or pokemons per say) and controlling what skills and fight moves you want. It's a lot of grinding but again to me it's also rewarding and addicting. Difficulty is about average even a little easy if you know what you're doing, but some bosses do present a good challenge. The only thing I truly hated about this game was the chatting after finishing each dungeon, sometimes it takes me a couple of hours of "cutscenes" to advance to the next dungeon to progress the story. But overall as a newbie to jrpgs, I truly enjoyed this game, so much so I bought a vita to play persona 4. Pros: great story, amazing cast of characters, addictive and rewarding game play, general combat. The so-so: can get repetitive for some, most will finish game in 100 hours +. Cons: pacing issues, too much letter box chatting sometimes.… Expand
  3. roman_emperor
    Apr 14, 2017
    7
    A lot of this game is hidden behind some serious limitations. The game denies freedom at every turn. If you decide to talk to somebody it takes all your day. Morgana is seriously annoying. I wish you would shut up. She decided what you can or can't do and it's annoying. I hate her being the game. The **** even tell you when to go to sleep. When you can or can't exercise or read a book. TheA lot of this game is hidden behind some serious limitations. The game denies freedom at every turn. If you decide to talk to somebody it takes all your day. Morgana is seriously annoying. I wish you would shut up. She decided what you can or can't do and it's annoying. I hate her being the game. The **** even tell you when to go to sleep. When you can or can't exercise or read a book. The game will ask you to study but them be like this, story, story, story, story, story, story, story, (Can I have some freedom here), story, story, story, story, (Thank you, finally! Oh, **** you mean I'm a the library but I can't read any books because Morgana decides I can't), story, story, story, story, story, story. It feels like if you're a prison. This game isn't a perfect 10, and it is definitely not for everyone. I really like the combat the endless limitations and narrative drags me down at times. When I had my first school break, I thought, "Cool I can focus on a few things for once, but then the game drags you on a long, long narrative, consuming all of your "free" days.… Expand
  4. DarkMagix
    Apr 17, 2017
    6
    I'm new to the series and JRPG world so my opinions and review are based on being a non-anime person reading how this is the best JRPG ever and wanting to experience a new type of game. Overall, it's a mix of being too bizarre/silly and simply put *old*. I feel like I would have seen this on a system 5-10 years ago and I would wager a guess that this is intentional but as a noob it'sI'm new to the series and JRPG world so my opinions and review are based on being a non-anime person reading how this is the best JRPG ever and wanting to experience a new type of game. Overall, it's a mix of being too bizarre/silly and simply put *old*. I feel like I would have seen this on a system 5-10 years ago and I would wager a guess that this is intentional but as a noob it's painful to experience coming in without a background.

    Graphics: Subpar at best. It's got the anime feel down but it looks pretty old. A lot of effort was clearly put into details but it's just not that great and maybe that comes with JRPG territory (expect graphics to look like they are from early generations of video gaming) 5/10

    Story: Pretty bizarre but nothing special. Again maybe it comes with the territory but the translation seems completely off, sometimes the speech and story just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I'm assuming in it's original form the meaning is likely drastically different. At times the translator appears to read directly from an incorrectly translated script which is void of the meaning of what is being presented on screen. Take what would be a 6/10 and throw a wall of button smashing text to get to any real action and you get a 5/10.

    Gameplay: For what there is, it's not too bad. Pretty intuitive though not very challenging. 8/10.

    Overall: It's for those that love the style I think. If you are used to the previous games then it's probably a blast. If you are new like me, then it feels like a 30 dollar-ish game that you start and want to love but give up after the mind numbing button smashing for the next best thing (and on PS4 that's probably in a week or two). I think it's a good choice in December when it's down to almost no price (30 or under) and you want a game to go back to when you are in a lull between your many other awesome PS4 games. 6/10    … Expand
  5. merryinc
    Apr 30, 2017
    6
    the game just isn't that great, how on earth IGN give is 9.7/10 and game informer 10/10, i've played 5 hours so far, and in that 5 hours, there is about 30 minutes of actual game play, the rest is hitting X after every sentance. I don't understand how every review i've read besides this one, gives is 90% plus, but 4/5 is still to high to me.
  6. PlayorNaygames
    Apr 24, 2017
    7
    Should you buy Persona 5 (P5)? If you're a hardcore fan of the series, of JRPGs in general, or you really enjoy slice of life anime, then yes. Persona 5 is a unique experience if you've never played a Persona game before. Since it's been a long time since Persona 3 on PS2, this is probably going to be many people's first Persona game. So, I highly recommend this to people that are fans ofShould you buy Persona 5 (P5)? If you're a hardcore fan of the series, of JRPGs in general, or you really enjoy slice of life anime, then yes. Persona 5 is a unique experience if you've never played a Persona game before. Since it's been a long time since Persona 3 on PS2, this is probably going to be many people's first Persona game. So, I highly recommend this to people that are fans of video games in general because there're no games like Persona series.

    I played this game on a PS4 Pro with a custom hard drive. This minimized load times for me, but there were a lot of them. They were so short they didn't bother me however. I've finished the game at 110 hours, although you can finish in as little as 90 like my brother did.

    Lets give a critique by category:

    Graphics: Nothing impressive here. This is a game developed for the PS3 after all, ported to the PS4. The animations are worse than prior games. You character just stands there most of the game, occasionally doing a gesture. There are not facial animations at all. Even the character portraits when the character talks just have a mouth moving. They could have used several portraits for each character, like in past games/other JRPGs. The art style is fantastic and really carries the game however. There are very few object that have a model in game, for example, if I spend $100 on a gift for someone, it would be cool to see the gift being given. 6/10

    Music/Sound/Voice: You'll hear some really catchy tracks in this game. The music is by far the best in the series. The voice acting is top notch, my only complaint is that some of the voice actors used are a bit too familiar and I would have appreciated new voices I haven't heard before. The game lacks musics tracks for how long the game is, which is the case in every Persona game. The sounds effects are what you would expect, I thought they were great. 8/10

    Story/Writing: Here's where things turn ugly for P5. The game shamelessly follow a VERY similar structure to P3, which makes it boring to fans of the Persona series. From characters, to overall plot, as you go along, you'll see what I mean. The game also has less voice acting than expected and a lot of reading boring exposition in the form of text message conversation. The text conversations I mostly skipped through because it's small talk that just restates what the game has already gone over to death. There are some interesting characters and plot lines from the minor characters at least and the game rewards you with additional powers for spending time with the characters, so you are at least given incentives to go through the characters stories you may not like.

    There's so much dialog in the game between the main characters, I'm not sure if they needed as much as they put in. You will get fatigued reading unimportant day to day drivel that blows up your phone.

    There are more places than ever to go to than ever and while small, they all were interesting if you enjoy Japanese culture at all. There are also a ton of secondary locations that you can choose to take some of your social links to, which is new to the series and a great addition.

    It's not that P5 writing is bad, it's that there's too much boring dialog and that the overall story and characters too closely follow P3. This is a highly subjective category and doesn't weigh that heavily into overall score due to that. 4/10

    Controls: Not much to say here as it's a very basic game to control. The new stealth mechanics are obnoxious to control as the camera doesn't automatically pan to your next cover area like it should. This can lead to you accidentally unsticking from cover and getting ambushed. Getting ambushed by the enemy early on most likely mean you lose. 8/10 Which leads me to gameplay...

    Gameplay: The game can be fun often, but there are several niggling issues holding the game back. Namely they brought back some old school features that suck. Did anyone like that you lose a battle when your main character dies in P3? They got rid of that "feature" in P4, but brought it back here. You also got full mana and health by attaining a level in P3, but here you do not, forcing you to go back out of the main dungeons more often than you may want early on.

    The highly praised main dungeons are just okay. The puzzles are very easy and you are too often forced to fight more enemies than you would like do to the sticky cover controls being imprecise. Also, regardless of how high level you are, enemies will always chase you. In past games, if you were higher level than the enemy, the enemy would run away from you.

    The battle system is improved in that you can get some cool abilities that weren't in to old games. They also brought back guns and the ability to talk to Personas to catch them, both from Persona 1, which I thought was cool. The problem with talking to Personas is that it takes more time than the previous roulette wheel in an already long game. 7/10    … Expand
  7. akiranet666
    Dec 8, 2019
    7
    A solid game but highly overrated. There is a good turn based system, the visual style is there, but lets be honest: seeing Persona as the pinnacle of JRPG nowadays is at least misleading.
  8. SplitMind
    Jun 19, 2019
    5
    I have no idea why this game has such universal acclaim; presumably the hype has deluded people.

    The single major issue I have with this game is the pacing of it. It is so incredibly slow, repetitive and linear despite seeming to be the opposite. There are a plethora of activities and methods to develop your character, yet most of the time you are conscripted into story-based    I have no idea why this game has such universal acclaim; presumably the hype has deluded people.

    The single major issue I have with this game is the pacing of it. It is so incredibly slow, repetitive and linear despite seeming to be the opposite. There are a plethora of activities and methods to develop your character, yet most of the time you are conscripted into story-based activities. Each day has a cycle, yet this can be skipped entirely because of a story event. Finally when you are given some space when there is an upcoming boss, you are further restricted and pressurised by having a limited amount of time to level up, forcing you to choose specific skills, attributes and equipment develop. This really railroads the entire experience.

    Related to the pace are the cutscenes. You are constantly pressing X in order to advance each conversation, a monotonous task in itself.

    The above really marred the entire game for me. The graphics are fine, and the gameplay is excellent when you actually get to battle!    … Expand
  9. Nero_Project
    Jan 16, 2019
    6
    Story: 10
    Gameplay: 3 (in 2019)
    Voice acting: 3 (they should put the whole P5A anime series instead of the text and dialog in the game)

    My score: 6!
  10. Turbodowg
    May 22, 2017
    7
    I feel like I'm in the minority with my opinion on Persona 5. Most gamers appear to really love this game. I'm not someone who hated it, but as a new comer to the series did not understand the hype.

    At best I thought it was an average game with way too much unnecessary dialog and little freedom for the player. But I'll start with the good points. The graphics are unique and the game    I feel like I'm in the minority with my opinion on Persona 5. Most gamers appear to really love this game. I'm not someone who hated it, but as a new comer to the series did not understand the hype.

    At best I thought it was an average game with way too much unnecessary dialog and little freedom for the player.

    But I'll start with the good points. The graphics are unique and the game is full of style. This does wear off quickly though and it can get tiresome watching the same animation after every battle that lasts longer than the battle its self. But visually there's no denying that at times it looks fantastic. The animated cut-scenes look gorgeous and are very well produced.

    The soundtrack is great, although tracks are often repeated there are some very cool and interesting tracks that fit well with what is happening on screen.

    The combat system is very well done. It is simple and effective. Battles are exciting and interesting and the use of personas are a really cool feature.

    The negatives and the reasons why I stopped playing are as follows.

    Firstly it takes a long long time for the game to get going, around 10 hours to get through the training and character introductions and 20 hours before you have beat the first dungeon. It felt like a real slog to get through. The problem was that in that 20 hours very little happens in terms of story or character development. Characters seem to repeat or dwell on the same issues without moving forward, it can become a laborious task reading/listing to the masses of unnecessary dialog.

    Gameplay. As I said before, combat works well, but a lot of the time is spent outside the dungeons. These parts of the game have you attending school, doing leisure activities, planning a dungeon raid or progressing story. This sounds cool but it's all very linear, you are often forced to do things you don't want and if you do go exploring and decide to watch a movie or play baseball the day ends, you are forced to sleep, then go back to school, then another bit of story pops up, then you are forced to do something else and by the time you get back to exploring the town 5 hours of real time have passed.

    SP (magic) is limited in dungeons, so early on before you learn how to stockpile magic recovery items you run out quickly, when you leave the dungeon to purchase an item to restore SP you often end up again been forced into story and dialog that takes days wasting more hours of your time before you can get back to what you wanted to do originally.

    Now I'm aware that one of the game mechanics is time management, so I'm not going to score the game down for it because I'm sure many people enjoy this and it is part of the Persona series, but for me it just isn't fun.

    Dungeons are fun and well designed. They are relatively barren and lack fine detail but each one is different and reflects the character they are based on well. I don't like that you can't just grind a dungeon and that it takes hours upon hours of progressing and leaving and then waiting for days in game for the boss to reveal them-self. It all seems a bit slow.

    And that's probably my main issue. This game requires patience. It's not like other recent RPGs, it is clearly designed for fans and doesn't make concessions for gamers outside the series.
    And that's fine, the game is clearly selling well and loved by many, it's just not my thing.

    Persona 5 has clearly been created with love and care. It has high production values an offers 100's of hours gameplay if you can get into it. I appreciate it as a game, but I've given up on it for now. Maybe one day I'll realize its true brilliance but until then I'll keep it on the shelf.    … Expand
  11. Darcsun
    Jul 22, 2017
    6
    I got about 40 hours into the game before deciding to trade it in. Honestly, it got boring hours earlier. The game is repetitive after the first 10 hours or so. Dungeons are the same, fights are the same, choices are the same... even the music is the same.

    I put RPGs as my favorite genre, and loved Nier, which I finished before this. I've played JRPGs since Phantasy Star on the SEGA    I got about 40 hours into the game before deciding to trade it in. Honestly, it got boring hours earlier. The game is repetitive after the first 10 hours or so. Dungeons are the same, fights are the same, choices are the same... even the music is the same.

    I put RPGs as my favorite genre, and loved Nier, which I finished before this. I've played JRPGs since Phantasy Star on the SEGA Master system. I'm a bit surprised that so many people dumped over 100 hours into this one. After 20, you've basically done 80% of what there is to do.    … Expand
  12. Elias_Schmitz
    Mar 23, 2018
    7
    The game is really good, I mean, you have to agree with it if you finish it, it wouldn’t be impossible to play it for 100+ hours if it wasn't.
    The problem is, in the end you get to really hate the few problems the game has, what in my opinion, it takes the masterpiece tittle away from it, making it not have THAT perfect and unforgettable feeling, and I kind of hate that right now.
    First    The game is really good, I mean, you have to agree with it if you finish it, it wouldn’t be impossible to play it for 100+ hours if it wasn't.
    The problem is, in the end you get to really hate the few problems the game has, what in my opinion, it takes the masterpiece tittle away from it, making it not have THAT perfect and unforgettable feeling, and I kind of hate that right now.
    First of all, the game is way too long, it could totally be done with a little more than a half of it, and they would not take any of the actually game of it. For example, do you really need to spend so much time with your confidants? I’m not talking about the good time, but those you go there and you are not gonna get your relationship any deep, so you just spend a day to get a little close to them. Come one, the game is not already long enough? Furthermore, the messages, OMG, I want to kill myself when I get home after talking for hours with the Phantom Thiefs and when you get home THEY REPEAT EVERTHING USING MESSAGES! Come on guys, didn’t we just talk about that? After awhile you just have to skip those messages and I’m pretty sure o missed some good stuff doing that.
    What about the ending part? After a million palaces, a million Mementos Floor, then you have one more floor, that looks like a palace, and then one more palace, and then one more floor with 4 mini bosses, to then make able to the final fight, It’s like a 20 hours just in the final act. All that after you thought you had beaten the final boss!!!
    Now the mechanics of the game. It was not made for you to max all your confidants in your first play, because it’s impossible to do that unless you either use a guide or you study and think A LOT on how to do that, also, to do that you have to spend only one day in each palace in order to achieve that. The problem is, I don’t think it is fair to rush the palace in one day in order to spend that day with one friend that it is not get any deeper with you in the next time you meet him. It’s just an example of how unbalanced it is.
    In conclusion, the game is really good, but damn, they really pissed me off in the end, and I think it took the masterpiece tittle from it.    … Expand
  13. ShinGlacier
    May 13, 2017
    7
    I've never played a Persona game before, but decided to give this a chance because a friend of mine really insisted. I'm not a fan of turn based RPG, but since there is the weakness/critical twist and baton passes and whatnot I actually enjoyed it. All the menus are absurdly stylish. The story is pretty interesting and deep. The soundtrack is amazing. What really bothered me is : yourI've never played a Persona game before, but decided to give this a chance because a friend of mine really insisted. I'm not a fan of turn based RPG, but since there is the weakness/critical twist and baton passes and whatnot I actually enjoyed it. All the menus are absurdly stylish. The story is pretty interesting and deep. The soundtrack is amazing. What really bothered me is : your number of actions are limited. Usually you can do something after school, and then something else in the evening. But the fact that a LOT of days that stupid Morgana just insists that i'm tired and should sleep, even if nothing major happened, thus wasting my day really pissed me off. Other than that it's a pretty good exclusive j-RPG.… Expand
  14. SOLIDSNAKEN64
    Mar 5, 2018
    7
    After my 120 hrs play through, I found this game to be be very different from anything I've played before. I really enjoyed the art direction, the characters, the story, and the gameplay. Even though all those things were great there are some issues that I had with the game. First of all is the length, normally I wouldn't complain about a game being too long, but they could of seriouslyAfter my 120 hrs play through, I found this game to be be very different from anything I've played before. I really enjoyed the art direction, the characters, the story, and the gameplay. Even though all those things were great there are some issues that I had with the game. First of all is the length, normally I wouldn't complain about a game being too long, but they could of seriously cut the dialogue of this game in half. I love reading books but I don't play video games to read a novel, and unfortunately most of the time spent in P5 is used reading endless dialogue. The art direction of this game is awesome! the anime characters work really well. I didnt think the graphics of the environments were really done very well and this game is definitely a port from PS3. The music is really great until you've heard the same 3 songs over and over for the entire 120 hrs, WTF. I really enjoyed the pokemon type battle system. The boss fights were not only challenging but fun figuring out their weaknesses. I dont know if I would ever play another Persona game, but you will for sure get your monies worth with P5.… Expand
  15. Mac2311
    Jun 20, 2017
    7
    After seeing such high scores on this site I decided that I would give it a try. personally for me I made a mistake and found this game to not be something that was for me.

    the Anima style has never been my favorite and felt that I was on a hype train when I was playing it. I still gave it a decent score since I can see the overall concept and how appealing it can be to a lot of people    After seeing such high scores on this site I decided that I would give it a try. personally for me I made a mistake and found this game to not be something that was for me.

    the Anima style has never been my favorite and felt that I was on a hype train when I was playing it. I still gave it a decent score since I can see the overall concept and how appealing it can be to a lot of people plus combat and graphics were very top notch.

    I would say before you buy this game you just have to ask yourself how into Anima are you. if you answer "I like it but not big into it" that's still enough for you to rock out this game.    … Expand
  16. Jax360
    Apr 29, 2017
    7
    pesona 5 one of the most overrated games of this year it does not desirve the hype or the ratings its getting as if its better or almost like latest games while it does not touch games like zelda, nier nioh of automata.

    Graphics.8.5
    Voice over.9
    Music.9
    CG.9
    Anime.9
    Story.7
    Control.7
    Fun Factor.6
    Overall.7
  17. Bunterboy
    Aug 17, 2018
    6
    This game can be summed up as 100 hours of a cat telling you what to do. You think you're going to get a huge world with a wide variation of what you can do but really you can ONLY do EXACTLY what the game wants you to do. The choices are an illusion.

    Visually it looks great and the combat is for the most part quite enjoyable but the story, Jesus, what a pile of wank and when coupled    This game can be summed up as 100 hours of a cat telling you what to do. You think you're going to get a huge world with a wide variation of what you can do but really you can ONLY do EXACTLY what the game wants you to do. The choices are an illusion.

    Visually it looks great and the combat is for the most part quite enjoyable but the story, Jesus, what a pile of wank and when coupled with some really crappy mechanics (despair I'm looking at you) and some completely unnecessary design choices (Mmm, I'm a mouse now; oh its a crappy airlock maze) they all combine to suck the fun out of the game. I'm at the last stage and can barely keep myself going it's such a slog.

    This game could do with being about half the size and it would be a lot tighter and benefit the whole experience.    … Expand
  18. MrFlankster
    Mar 20, 2019
    6
    HONEST REVIEW: Let me start by saying Persona 4 Golden is my all time favorite RPG. Now that that is out of the way.... I'm about half way through, so unless something seriously changes, I'm sticking to my score. Yes, it has a decent story. It hasn't hooked me like P4G. Gameplay (battles) is still as great as ever.
    Here is my issue. MAJOR HAND HOLDING. If you want to have a cat as your    HONEST REVIEW: Let me start by saying Persona 4 Golden is my all time favorite RPG. Now that that is out of the way.... I'm about half way through, so unless something seriously changes, I'm sticking to my score. Yes, it has a decent story. It hasn't hooked me like P4G. Gameplay (battles) is still as great as ever.
    Here is my issue. MAJOR HAND HOLDING. If you want to have a cat as your mother telling you when you should go to bed, when to go out, when not to do this or that, then this is the game for you. There is absolutely NO freedom in this game. It's extremely linear. In this day and age, this is simply "not okay," especially for an RPG. For example, I finish fighting in a palace, get home, turn around to go out for the evening to up some stats and the CAT tells me it's time for bed??!!
    This happens throughout. They make everything you do seem like it has to go through the cat first. This has ruined the overall experience. In my mind, it's a step back compared to P4G.    … Expand
  19. pieguard
    May 11, 2017
    5
    The interface and music is very hip and cool, but for me (especially the music) this got old after many hours. This is a fairly long game, and hearing the same melodies and songs repeated over and over for 100 hours is too much. I love some of the boss themes, but I wish they did a better job incorporating more casual- all the time music. The turn based system is kind of dated but worksThe interface and music is very hip and cool, but for me (especially the music) this got old after many hours. This is a fairly long game, and hearing the same melodies and songs repeated over and over for 100 hours is too much. I love some of the boss themes, but I wish they did a better job incorporating more casual- all the time music. The turn based system is kind of dated but works well, overall eh. The finale of the game was underwhelming and kind of anti-climactic. Overall it seems to be exactly what most people would expect from another installation to the Persona franchise ... nothing really innovative or earth shattering. I think the best parts of this game were the character interactions.… Expand
  20. pongkrit03
    Jun 6, 2017
    7
    7/10 is enough for the game that depends heavily on story telling. This game has some merits but clearly not for everyone. I have spent 60 hrs to this game and decided to stop because I started to feel tired of reading ton of text. Basically, if you are into the story, then this game is superb. However, for me, I did not enjoy much of a story. It is not that bad but it is split into many7/10 is enough for the game that depends heavily on story telling. This game has some merits but clearly not for everyone. I have spent 60 hrs to this game and decided to stop because I started to feel tired of reading ton of text. Basically, if you are into the story, then this game is superb. However, for me, I did not enjoy much of a story. It is not that bad but it is split into many stories and combine together. Main stories (palaces) are not equally good. Character stories are mostly boring mediocre to me. Nothing really stands out here, as I have been watching a lot of anime, Persona 5 story does not really excel in this area. The pace overall is too slow.

    Combat system is also a general old school. Actually, it is even worse than some JRPG game (for example FFX). Most of the times, you just find weakness of enemies, then spam that skill to everyone of them, then use all out attack. You can't customize skills of your teammate either. The Persona Fusion system also relies heavily on randomness. (I hate it) The names of skill are written in Japanese so you have to memorize them by yourself.

    So Story and Gameplay are mediocre thus far but the reasons I generously give it 7/10 are

    1.Musics are epic. I love a lot of persona 5 osts. I listened them a lot even when I was at workplace. The songs with singer are so great and catchy.

    2.Art Design is top-notch. Everywhere in the game looks cool and stylish.

    3.Game length is Enormous. You need 80-120 hrs for your first play through.

    That is it for Persona 5. I had a high hope but it did not live up to my expectation. It is still ok so be warned. Only those who love reading text and old battle system will like the game. Hardcore gamers who like to play more than read, better skip this one.    … Expand
  21. ZacFry
    Nov 21, 2017
    7
    Persona 5 is a solid game. It's solid. It has a funky soundtrack with fun characters and "catch 'em all" Pokemon aspects. But it takes the qualities of JRPG's, and turns it up to 11, revealing the deep flaws in the genre. As much fun as dungeon crawling and collecting personas is, these moments are too spread out as the game DRAGS you through a mediocre plot and suffocates you withPersona 5 is a solid game. It's solid. It has a funky soundtrack with fun characters and "catch 'em all" Pokemon aspects. But it takes the qualities of JRPG's, and turns it up to 11, revealing the deep flaws in the genre. As much fun as dungeon crawling and collecting personas is, these moments are too spread out as the game DRAGS you through a mediocre plot and suffocates you with dialogue boxes. The game gives you the illusion of choice (like many games these days), but does it pretty transparently. While I can choose how I spend my time most days, in the end it just feels incredibly formulaic- you do an activity, or hang out with an NPC, and a stat increases. No skill is involved whatsoever. This also applies to the strategy around the battle mechanics. Barring the occasional enemy who is a snowman, all tactics are a guessing game. You just throw attacks against enemies and hope that they work. The core mechanics that make Persona so unique is there, I just wish Atlus would have made more improvements. Maybe the JRPG genre is no longer for this gamer, but Persona 5 is "check-list gaming" personified.… Expand
  22. CitanZero
    May 10, 2017
    5
    I wanted to like this game. The main problem for me is the storyline. I'm 3 hours in, and this whole castle business with the gym teacher and then the cat, I just can't get into it. I've played a ton of RPGs, and I think maybe if I was a teenager still, I might have been able to get into it. I tried Persona 4 and liked it more, as far as I can remember, more than this one as far asI wanted to like this game. The main problem for me is the storyline. I'm 3 hours in, and this whole castle business with the gym teacher and then the cat, I just can't get into it. I've played a ton of RPGs, and I think maybe if I was a teenager still, I might have been able to get into it. I tried Persona 4 and liked it more, as far as I can remember, more than this one as far as storyline goes. The main issue is that I was hoping for a more adult theme. The game is very childish in its plot and characters. I wanted something like Death Note as far as a storyline. I find myself hitting X over and over to get through the very obvious dialogue now and will probably put the game down. It started off with a lot of potential, but now, at the point where the girl Ann is coming to the castle, I find myself just not interested. As far as the graphics and the gameplay, that's all top-notch. But that doesn't do anything for me if I can't get into the story. The characters seem paper-thin and somewhat annoying at this point, especially Skull. Again,this game might be good for younger gamers. I was a teenager when I played FF7, Chrono Cross, FF8, etc.… Expand
  23. Olander
    Apr 10, 2017
    7
    Are you looking for a game that can put you to sleep, look no further than Persona 5!

    Persona 5 is a very niche game, it is a turn based combat system and a social/dating sim. If you don't like either of those, you will dislike this game a lot. Not to say the game is bad, it is a very good game, it just has to many flaws (you can easily tell the limitations the game has because it    Are you looking for a game that can put you to sleep, look no further than Persona 5!

    Persona 5 is a very niche game, it is a turn based combat system and a social/dating sim. If you don't like either of those, you will dislike this game a lot. Not to say the game is bad, it is a very good game, it just has to many flaws (you can easily tell the limitations the game has because it released on the PS3, instead of being a full fledged PS4 game using its hardware to the max) to be given a higher score than what I rated it.

    The story is like a roller coaster, it has its ups and downs. The game's story is at its best when you are doing the palaces, and the story that revolves around them. But when you finish them, there is such a long low part of the game where it is just dialogue for several hours doing all the mundane stuff, waiting for your next target. Which bored me so much, I was just skipping some dialogue that didn't have voice overs that weren't pertaining to the main story. Another thing I did not like, is that every party character had to go through their Persona identity crisis. It just felt like every party character you met just repeated itself.

    As for the game play, the turn base combat is fun and interrogating the monsters is a interesting concept to capture them to use their powers. It feels very much like Pokemon. The stealth part in the palaces can be somewhat wonky at times because of the issues with the camera, but overall is a solid edition to the game. The best part of the combat system is finding the weakness in each enemy, and then knocking them all down to do a flashy move that most of the time kills all the monsters in a single strike. The bad thing about the weakness system, it goes both ways. Monsters can strike you multiple times if they have the weakness of the person they are attacking. Which can easily lead to a single wipe on harder difficulty settings.

    The music and the art style of the game is amazingly done and are easily the best part of the game. The rock/jazz/electronic music fits very well with the theme. And the style makes up for the limitations that Altus had to hold back by still having the game release on PS3 in 2016/2017.

    In the end, if you are looking for a JRPG to play, look no further than Persona 5. It is the ideal JRPG and a great starting point in the Persona series. It is just not for everyone.    … Expand
  24. tobiaschan
    Nov 19, 2017
    5
    This game is fun, but it is not the level of getting a GOTY. If this is a year like 2010, this game deserves the GOTY. Sadly this year there are a lot of games that are creative and with really good graphic. I think the reason why everyone love this game is because they love to watch Japanese animation and they think it's cool to control animated character. I am not a fan of JapaneseThis game is fun, but it is not the level of getting a GOTY. If this is a year like 2010, this game deserves the GOTY. Sadly this year there are a lot of games that are creative and with really good graphic. I think the reason why everyone love this game is because they love to watch Japanese animation and they think it's cool to control animated character. I am not a fan of Japanese animation and this is my opinion. Generally this game is cool but I don't see what make it stands out more among other games.… Expand
  25. jmartin77777
    May 31, 2017
    7
    I'm a big fan of almost every game in the SMT series, and very much a fan of the previous 2 Persona installments. But the lack of player agency really bothered me in this installment. I enjoy 'silent protagonists' in general. One of my favorite games of all times (Suikoden 2) is the poster child of silent protagonists games. But they just did it wrong in this game. Most scenes inI'm a big fan of almost every game in the SMT series, and very much a fan of the previous 2 Persona installments. But the lack of player agency really bothered me in this installment. I enjoy 'silent protagonists' in general. One of my favorite games of all times (Suikoden 2) is the poster child of silent protagonists games. But they just did it wrong in this game. Most scenes in the game would have been unaffected had the protagonist not even been present. There are tons of instances where the scenario designers could have done such minor things to make the player feel important to the group. Cases where another party member has a moment of weakness that the protagonist could have been the one to put a kind hand on their shoulder, or where the conversation could have included a nod to the main character in meaningful exchanges. But in almost every case the game chooses to have the conversation take place between other party members. Even for most of the finale of the game left me feeling that Morgana was the real protagonist, and the shaggy headed dude was just a scene extra.

    The confidant interactions were all fine, they portrayed the relationship I WANTED to experience in the game, with the silent hero being a pillar of strength for his friends, even while suffering his own problems. But the central story dialogues almost went out of their way to NOT include the protagonist. There are just so many TINY changes that could have been made to let the player feel like he was the strength of the group as opposed to just some guy listening in (like he does with so many other whispered conversations while walking around). Maybe that was how he was meant to be, but it just didn't sit right with me since the confidant scenes implied he was important to everyone, but the story scenes did not (except in a few obvious cases that I won't spoil).

    I am glad I played this game, its by no means bad. The overall story is good for what its meant to be. And mechanically the game is fantastic! But the protagonist's place in the story really left me cold.    … Expand
  26. chad_pattan
    Apr 7, 2017
    7
    Here we go again, with me going "against the grain" of popular opinion. But I'm certainly not negative, I'm just realistic.

    Because you see, I loved Persona 3 even more than Persona 4. Persona 3 was much darker and in my opinion told a better overall story, despite Persona 4 having better gameplay and an easier transition into the battles. That's telling. It means I enjoy a well told    Here we go again, with me going "against the grain" of popular opinion. But I'm certainly not negative, I'm just realistic.

    Because you see, I loved Persona 3 even more than Persona 4. Persona 3 was much darker and in my opinion told a better overall story, despite Persona 4 having better gameplay and an easier transition into the battles. That's telling. It means I enjoy a well told story more than a well played game.

    But the hallmark of a good story is character development.

    With that, let me quantify my 7 real quick.

    Animation: 4 points. Things are smooth and subtle things added to the experience that you wouldn't have expected them to take the time on, like some gal crossing her legs or someone getting up from a desk and running out of the room. It feels fluid and natural. Wonderfully done.

    Battle Mechanics: 2 points. I do enjoy the hide mechanic because it doesn't require a lot of effort or thought, simple button layouts, etc. I'm not a fan of the general battle engine, but it's not a dealbreaker, more annoying compared to the older games.

    Controls: 1 point. They're simple, they don't overuse buttons like Breath of the Wild or Dynasty Warriors Next, there's no "gimmicks" that I can see. Just a basic use of the button X most of the time.

    And that's it.

    First off you're looking at a 5-hour sprint before you can really PLAY the game. To be fair, 3 and 4 had lengthy intros too, but with those, they focused very heavily on character development so you could learn who people were before teaming you up. Here, you're just doing minutiae tasks like flipping signs from outside a door. I can easily see today's millennials getting bored and frustrated 3 hours in and returning the game.

    Second, there are parts where you'll watch a cutscene, walk 7 seven steps to a load screen, then another cutscene. Or you'll fight one battle, walk 10 steps, see another cutscene. It's jarring. I like cutscenes but they need to do better with the transitions from battle to non-battle segments.

    Third, the graphics are just too much, too "loud". They look like what you'd get if you allowed Amy Schumer to design the game. Fonts are blown out and difficult to read, colors are all over the palette with no real logic. I was the first to criticize NIER Automata for being too bland; this is too far in the wrong direction. I actually avoid the menu because I can't stand the way it looks - and fortunately, there's very little requiring you to actually go there.

    Fourth, the cell phone mechanic is terrible. I'm sorry. I get what they were trying to do, but it wasn't done well. Why are you having to manually advance text messages?

    Fifth, the music. It's not bad music, but it's a pale shadow of what Persona 3 was doing. "When the Moon Reaches Out to the Stars" just won't get out of my head 11 years after the fact. Most, if not all, of the songs in 5 are forgettable and too short.

    This isn't a bad game. It's not. But having played the older ones I feel this was a step back. If you'd never played a Persona, you probably wouldn't be as harsh. I'll gladly say though, even if you don't agree with my review specifically, that there's simply no way it's a 10. Not in any universe I can think of.    … Expand
  27. pmasterfunk
    Oct 2, 2018
    7
    I'll try to make this short. I've been a MegaTen fan for a while now, and I was super hyped about P5. However, I feel it falls short of its predecessors (P3 and P4) and in many ways:

    - It probably has the worst battle system of the lot. The new elements, Psy and Nuke, make the gameplay even more main-character dependant. All-out attacks are overpowered and make all other tactics    I'll try to make this short. I've been a MegaTen fan for a while now, and I was super hyped about P5. However, I feel it falls short of its predecessors (P3 and P4) and in many ways:

    - It probably has the worst battle system of the lot. The new elements, Psy and Nuke, make the gameplay even more main-character dependant. All-out attacks are overpowered and make all other tactics pointless, and enemies who are hard to knock down are way tougher than anything else. Ambushes are broken, as enemies often get two turns attacking after one.

    - The supporting cast is the weakest of the three games; Ryuji is dumb and always mad, Ann is the ditzy blond who doesn't want to be sexualized but wears a catsuit, Morgana is a less interesting Teddy, Futaba is annoying, and Akechi is super tropey. Big bad is not interesting and only involved through some Deus Ex Machina garbage.

    - Story is also probably the weakest, the last chapters lazily throw in references to earlier events to make is sound like it was all part of an elaborate plan, even though adding connections between these events has no impact on the story.

    - There's too much dialog, I don't need to be told that unlocking a door is going to help me through this maze every single time, or what to do with this key that I've found in a room with a locked door. P3 and P4 already had quite a bit of dialog, but P5 pushes it way beyond that.

    - The new dungeons are quite good, but they become inacessible once finished. It's also hard to avoid enemies by running past them, and waiting to ambush enemies can make things long and monotonous. The camera gets testy when sneaking around, which may cause you to lose sight of that enemy you were trying to ambush. Mementos sucks.

    Not everything about P5 is bad, obviously. The game is super polished, even the menu screens are flashy and stylish. Voice acting is pretty solid, and some of the soundtrack moves towards Nocturne and DDS style metal tunes. There are tons of locations to visit, and the different activities/mini-games are numerous and fun. The input method for battles makes things go faster, which is nice. Saving anywhere (except for dungeons) is pretty nice, too. But these things don't compensate for the poor design choices for the battle system, thin characters, and weak story.    … Expand
  28. macunix
    Apr 22, 2017
    7
    I like the story a lot. However, the battle system is very boring to me. I wish to skip all the useless battles. It should have another mode for story only mode.
  29. AllNewSuperfake
    Dec 3, 2020
    5
    Great style and music, well fleshed out mechanics and gameplay +10
    Children's book level writing -1
    90 % of the game is pressing X to continue the neverending blabbering -1 Morgana -8 (Morgana is just the most obvious example for a great sandboxy game getting repeatedly stabbed in it's best parts by being streamlined to let the story shine, and while the story isn't terrible, the    Great style and music, well fleshed out mechanics and gameplay +10
    Children's book level writing -1
    90 % of the game is pressing X to continue the neverending blabbering -1

    Morgana -8

    (Morgana is just the most obvious example for a great sandboxy game getting repeatedly stabbed in it's best parts by being streamlined to let the story shine, and while the story isn't terrible, the way it's shoved in your face made me hate it and everything about it)
    readjusted the score because it's really not a 0, but I now understand the glorious vision that was the cat silencer in "postal 2" +5    … Expand
  30. RVD1OFAKIND
    May 12, 2017
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Contains spoilers of Personas: 3 4 5. Full review in Gamefaqs later.

    The Good:

    Music - Shoji Meguro does it again. 6th game I've played with him doing music. The lack of Lotus Juice is sad and the battle theme is pretty bad though.

    Style - Eye orgasm. The after battle transitions, the all out attacks, the menus...

    Yusuke - great character. Great social link. Best playable character by a mile. No questions asked.

    Futaba - another great character. Great social link with just 1 weakness - the friend from school thing but it was still handled better than other social links (more on this later) .

    Valentines event - If you have multiple romantic relationships (maybe you have to have them all, I'm not sure), the scene is glorious.

    Small things: class questions with pictures. Better model animations in cutscenes.

    The bad:
    Bad vocal main cast and their social links:

    Ryuji - I ran on a track team once, I'm dumb and get angry easily. Great stuff. The SL is REALLY bad.

    Ann - I like food, shopping and modeling. Wow. I don't even know what to say here

    Makoto - Miss "I've read the script". Seriously. Every team meeting everyone discusses what happened/what should we do etc. And then she goes "This is how it was/this is what we will do". EVERY. TIME. Her social link is complete garbage and is more about her friend than her.

    Haru - Who? Exacly. Why is she even in this game? If she was not there - nothing of value would be lost.

    Morgana - Teddie rehash without being funny and loveable. Shadow - check. Teaches you stuff - check. Feels useless after a navigator joins - check. "I'm not a cat" pretty much describe his character.

    Other social links: Here are the other social links:
    1. Meet with the person. His/her life seems pretty good.
    2. An evil person walks up and tells some evil stuff
    3. You go beat him/her/them up inside mementos
    4. End of social link.

    Akechi - Great character at the start who gets ruined completely. Disregarding the AWFUL post fight death flip flop scene, the thing I hated the most was how he, for no reason out of the blue, just says "I'm a character you should pity too btw". He shouldn't say that. You should hear that from Shido's shadow. Fixed. Also...

    Rehashing Persona 4 and 3 to a lesser extent - Let's see...
    Mascot that teaches you everything and feels useless when navigator shows up but is actually a shadow.
    The traitor/criminal is the police detective that acts nice and innocent.
    Last boss is a complete copy of the Eye Boss (ameno-sagiri). "Human desires are my desires".
    Mementos is literally Tartarus turned upside down. Even the designs look extremelly similar. Randomly generated dungeon with teleporters "quick move" that have bariers that go away after story progression and there's your last boss at the end.

    Villains - Akechi aside, the villains were really forgetable and boring. They just pop up out of nowhere without any development. All of them was "find out about them. get in trouble. change heart within time limit" Shido didn't feel like the main villain. He just felt like "another dude that needs a change of heart" that they made the mastermind behind everything as an afterthought. Compare this to Takaya who killed your 2 friends and Adachi who killed 2 people and caused Nanako's death (she still died for a bit). Shido was just "another dude". Also his dialogue was very weak.

    Story - oh boy, the big one. So until the betrayal, the story was "ok". It had good and meh moments. Most of the terrible writting happened during and after betrayal.
    The main problems before were:
    1. Haven't done the dungeon? "Dude you should really do the dungeon". "Damn, remember that dungeon?". Done the dungeon? "Oh I hope this works". "What if this doesn't work?".
    2. "Gosh what random guy will we pick next". "Supid adults"
    Afterwards the problems were:
    1. The betrayal itself was really poorly done in my opinion. The party members have shown to be rather incompetant. Then they somehow think of a master plan down to every small detail. It's overexplained. Seemed like writters trying to cover all their bases. And how can they think of such an elaborate plan and then later be shown to not notice they are on a damn ship for 30 seconds. It's mindboglingly jarring. 2. Everything with Akechi afterwards 3. Shido seems like "just another dude" 4. Oh boy a god is behind everything again 5. Fake deaths of Ryuji and Mona that any sane person wouldn't believe for a second. It's downright insulting that they were taken seriuosly by the party. 6. 4-5 scenes of "Here are all the social links you've made" Overall - Persona 5 amounts to be a bog standart JRPG. As a sequal its a complete letdown. Persona 3 and 4 were the pinacles of the genre standing head and shoulders above every other JRPG. They were a 10 when all the other were a 5 at best. That's how wide of a gap I feel there is. And sadly Persona 5 joins the latter...    … Expand
  31. ignore78
    Dec 8, 2017
    7
    The good: Persona 5 has good story and art. It feels like i am playing a good Anime show. I am 10 hours in and have not scratched the surface. The bad: Ps3 graphics and Disorientated in between where to go next segments. i am enjoying listening as the characters talk and see how the story unfold. BUT then right after that i just want to rush to the next story scene. This would be muchThe good: Persona 5 has good story and art. It feels like i am playing a good Anime show. I am 10 hours in and have not scratched the surface. The bad: Ps3 graphics and Disorientated in between where to go next segments. i am enjoying listening as the characters talk and see how the story unfold. BUT then right after that i just want to rush to the next story scene. This would be much better as a anime.… Expand
  32. HighLordWolnir
    Nov 14, 2017
    7
    The animation looks great especially the transitions from gameplay to cutscenes. Music is decent and the menus pop out of the screen with vibrant colours. But unfortunately the gameplay is repetitive and does not offer anything new to the series.
    Overall the game is average and not a full price purchase, unless you are a huge fan of the series or a big JRPG fan - wait for a price drop.
  33. Chiyou
    Aug 3, 2018
    6
    You all are out of your minds... No but seriously I did not enjoy this experience.. I didn't care for any of the characters. Ryuji got way on my nerves way too much. I wanted to love this game I really did. i loved Persona 4, the characters in persona 4 mixed with the backdrop of rural japan was charming as hell. This game loses all that. The one thing it does better is it has a moreYou all are out of your minds... No but seriously I did not enjoy this experience.. I didn't care for any of the characters. Ryuji got way on my nerves way too much. I wanted to love this game I really did. i loved Persona 4, the characters in persona 4 mixed with the backdrop of rural japan was charming as hell. This game loses all that. The one thing it does better is it has a more complex dungeon system. Unfortunately it's paired with the most awful stealth, sticking to wall gameplay I've ever seen. It's gotten me into trouble more often than I can count.. okay i can count higher but I do have an education. The dialog system rewards you for selecting the right command so much that you'll either end up reading a guide to choose correctly (because game time is so valuable) or you'll restart your game over and over again. it makes it feel completely pointless.. as if someone whose spending over 100 hours in a game would want to see a less complete story. I won't be giving Atlus another chance after this.. If i'm going to spend 100 hours in a game again it's going to have to have some dragon shouts or something.

    (BTW I put over 100 hours into this game and decided that was enough)    … Expand
  34. Keith_Irving
    Sep 7, 2017
    7
    Persona 5 is a great game, it is a very enjoyable ride throughout, at least most of the time.
    This was my first Persona game, and I was very excited to start playing.
    I am not going to spoil the story, but let's just say the overall story is pretty bad, but the individual stories were great. - Positives - 1. Combat is very fun 2. Confidants provide very useful abilities and    Persona 5 is a great game, it is a very enjoyable ride throughout, at least most of the time.
    This was my first Persona game, and I was very excited to start playing.
    I am not going to spoil the story, but let's just say the overall story is pretty bad, but the individual stories were great.

    - Positives -
    1. Combat is very fun

    2. Confidants provide very useful abilities and provides great incentive to hanging out with your friends

    3. If the Protagonist falls in battle, the game is over, I am very happy they decided to stick to tradition

    4. Visual Presentation is great, like seriously this game has style

    - Mixed -
    1. Story is 100 hours long and there are way too many days where you have no control on what you do

    2. Dungeons while no longer randomly generated like past Persona titles, can become very annoying,
    I have never actively avoided playing a game before, because I knew of the upcoming dungeon

    3. I felt like the music was a huge step down from previous Persona titles

    4. Characters are interesting but no where near the level of past Persona titles

    - Negatives -
    1.Combat is way too easy, even on Hard Mode except in the beginning when it's very brutal, almost unfair

    2. You can switch the game difficulty mid-game

    3. Even for serious moments or boss battles, most of the time standard music plays

    4. Lack of overall plot until end game

    5. There is a point of no return in the final dungeon that happens without warning,
    and I am really speaking about how you can't buy any recovery items at all once your past that point.

    This game was amazing, so I immediately bought and beat Persona 4 Golden, and wow...It really opened my eyes on how disappointing Persona 5 was in comparison.
    Don't get me wrong Persona 5 is great, but compared to Persona 4 Golden, I feel like it falls short.
    Persona 4 Golden is a magical experience from beginning to end, and I would recommend getting that game instead.

    It'll only cost around $60 to get a PS-TV and Persona 4 Golden.
    So overall, this is a great game, but falls in comparison to past titles.    … Expand
  35. DreamCore
    Oct 27, 2020
    6
    I have to start by saying that this is an extremely overrated game.

    There are many things that I liked with the game, but equally many I hated. The Good: * This being my first Persona game, it felt very unique compared to most copy pasted games nowadays which was really refreshing. * The art style and UI design is really cool. * The story with the Metaverse and Palaces was very    I have to start by saying that this is an extremely overrated game.

    There are many things that I liked with the game, but equally many I hated.

    The Good:

    * This being my first Persona game, it felt very unique compared to most copy pasted games nowadays which was really refreshing.
    * The art style and UI design is really cool.
    * The story with the Metaverse and Palaces was very cool.
    * Intersting combat system.

    The bad:
    * The negotiation system for "catching" personas SUCKS. I had to use a guide because it simply didn't make sense.
    * Some enemies/bosses have abilities that one-shot you which can cause you to die with the blink of an eye. This is bad design and something I truly despise in games. It's unfair and pure trash design. It's particularly bad in this game because if Joker gets one shotted, it's over, and it's also random so you have no control. The only safe way is to make sure you always have the ability to negate instant death once, because you never know if a new enemy can randomly one shot you.
    * The game is very slow and drags out for too long. The real-world part gets old really quickly and leveling up your stats and confidants over and over, hour after hour gets really dull.
    * Mementos is garbage. With 50+ levels with the same repetitive enemies that you have to grind through is a perfect way of lazy design and how not to do things. Is only there to increase the playtime, pure and simple.    … Expand
  36. ORevisor
    Feb 14, 2018
    6
    - Muito diálogo, dias a fio só de diálogos... E muitos sem relevância, é tanto diálogo que me fez deixar de prestar atenção no enredo do game, graças a Deus tem um botão de acelerar as conversas, mas mesmo assim é muito chato...
    - Sem grandes inovações comparando-se aos predecessores
    - O sistema de confidant já está chato, sem novidades e extremamente limitado, assim como as versões    - Muito diálogo, dias a fio só de diálogos... E muitos sem relevância, é tanto diálogo que me fez deixar de prestar atenção no enredo do game, graças a Deus tem um botão de acelerar as conversas, mas mesmo assim é muito chato...
    - Sem grandes inovações comparando-se aos predecessores
    - O sistema de confidant já está chato, sem novidades e extremamente limitado, assim como as versões anteriores existem respostas pré-definidas para se elevar o ranking e ter basicamente os mesmos resultados finais
    - A recuperação de SP no início do jogo é extremamente difícil
    - Muitas habilidades boas são liberadas apenas com personas de níveis muito alto
    - O jogo favorece personas que são criados em níveis baixos, pois você pode controlar os pontos de atributos quando se ganha lv ao longo do jogo, já os que são criados em lv alto vem com os atributos bagunçados e sem possibilidade de correção ou aprimoramento, lembrando que nessa versão só se aumenta os atributos através de elevação de nível
    - Poderiam ter criado mais personas
    - A maioria das magias ficaram simples e feias
    + As lutas são divertidas e fluidas, as magias são executadas com maior velocidade comparados ao 3 e 4
    + As músicas do game são muito boas
    Findando... o jogo vale a grana gasta, porém, não acredito que se trate de um jogo 10/10, os diálogos se tornam tão irritantes que estraga o fator replay, terminei uma vez o jogo e não tenho vontade de joga-lo novamente...    … Expand
  37. Bulletnot
    Nov 25, 2020
    7
    Pros: great story, role play mechanics where you can work at a job, go to school, socialise with friends, etc. Definitely a must buy if you don’t mind to read a lot of text.
    Cons: combat can get a bit grinding/repetitive when you fight a lot of the same enemies and, as it is turn based, you often just press a button and watch the same animation over and over.
  38. SZJX
    Sep 26, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. P5 is supposed to be a "rebel against the mainstream social conventions" story, but the irony is that the characters are so cartoonishly good-vs-evil it ended up being a really lame, safe and mainstream story without much thought-provoking depth or connection with the real world whatsoever. (Not to mention the various other issues such as the one-dimensionality and objectification of Ann and Ryuji, the dubious "hidden relationships" that the protagonist is able to develop with so many characters, etc.) I don't expect it to be a thorough and brutal examination on the subjectivity and reversibility of "justice" and "evil" like some 18+ novel e.g. Soukou Akki Muramasa (which is an absolute masterpiece), but then people should see P5 as what it is: A very shallow and mainstream teenage heroism power fantasy. People imagine themselves railing against the suffocating societal conventions or whatnot, but in reality they are just lapping up another mainstream commercial production and forking out their money for a power trip which has little real-world connotations. (If you actually try to "dish out justice" or "change the system" in real life, it's not such a black-and-white affair as depicted in some shallow super hero "good vs. evil" drama. There will be real sufferings and real deaths, and when you think you're the justice is with you, the other side might well think they're the just ones, instead of acting in a cartoonish villainy way, and there's just simply no "right answer" or "absolute justice" in the world.)

    I can even see various points where the author probably initially envisioned how the story could get dark, e.g. the point where Okumura died felt like it could have been the phantom thieves that did it, whether accidentally or not. Instead they had to push every morally ambiguous or bad action to a fall guy (Goro) and dispense with him in the end as well, just like in every mainstream Japanese story (one who killed will also need to die in the end, while the protagonist is always clean). The "fake death" of Ryuji also felt like the author probably really thought about killing Ryuji instead. However, they decided to play it safe and make it a simple mainstream commercial success. Not to mention the student who committed suicide was miraculously healed at the end of the story… Yeah, sure, that's also one type of game/movie and I have nothing against it. But for it to receive such ridiculous level of praise and ratings is something I don't get. Well I guess this is how the mainstream game industry works nowadays and how its standards are. At least I'm glad that many people do share the same views.

    This is also why nowadays I tend to not play JRPG games and instead read visual novels. The music and the art style of P5 are great, sure, but those don't leave a lasting impact on me and I am not after those things. I can understand that maybe those aspects of the game instead of the story are what many gamers are after though.    … Expand
  39. TatsMcGee
    Sep 8, 2018
    6
    I went into this game knowing that I was not going to finish it. I just wanted to experience the game and see what it’s about. Every year my friends and I get together and do an end of the year podcast. We just talk about our top 10 games of the year and I know this game is going to be the game of the year for 2 of them.

    So I wanted to try this game and see why they like it so much. I    I went into this game knowing that I was not going to finish it. I just wanted to experience the game and see what it’s about. Every year my friends and I get together and do an end of the year podcast. We just talk about our top 10 games of the year and I know this game is going to be the game of the year for 2 of them.

    So I wanted to try this game and see why they like it so much. I enjoyed my time with the game but its just way too long for my taste. The game takes about 90-100 hours to beat and I prefer games that are around 30-40 hours. At least my RPG’s, I prefer them to be a bit shorter. A big reason for that is, I work about 45 hours a week. So during the work week, I only have 3-4 hours per night to play. That’s assuming I want to play a game every night. So during the work week, I can play for 15-16 hours. On the weekends I have more time but even then I typically don’t play games for than 12-15 hours on the weekends. So I game for 25-30 hours per week. That’s a lot of time for me to play my games but a game that’s 90-100 hours. That’s basically an entire month of me playing one game. I get burnt out before I ever get to end.

    So my time with this game, I did enjoy. I played for about 20 hours and the story itself didn’t do a ton for me but I enjoyed the combat. I like Turn-based combat and looking for enemy weaknesses. Even though I did enjoy the combat, after about 20 hours. I started to grow bored of it. Knowing I had 70-80 more hours of the game. I decided to call it and really I accomplished my goal. I just wanted to experience the game and see what the fuss is about.

    This game was not for and I went in knowing that but I always try to keep an open mind. If you’re into Japanese Role Playing Games then I highly recommend this one. It’s a well-made game that just too long for me.    … Expand
  40. Kyeoli
    May 6, 2020
    6
    I loved the game don't get my review wrong but i really disliked the "forced" nature with the "freedom" for exploring. wanting to go out at night even though i have the keys "stupid cat - hey shouldn't you sleep" it's really lazy and kind of wonky being at a batting cage passes a whole portion of the day or studying in a cafe don't even know how long or it apparently taking a wholeI loved the game don't get my review wrong but i really disliked the "forced" nature with the "freedom" for exploring. wanting to go out at night even though i have the keys "stupid cat - hey shouldn't you sleep" it's really lazy and kind of wonky being at a batting cage passes a whole portion of the day or studying in a cafe don't even know how long or it apparently taking a whole portion of the day to make coffee . then your forced to sleep i can't craft tools in the evening i don't know if its i haven't gotten far but that aspect really sucks, it ruins the whole experience of having so much to do but apparently anything drains the whole day, being in a palace or whatever i can understand but being in a batting cage takes off majority of the day just what is that?… Expand
  41. katieelizabeth
    Nov 29, 2020
    6
    I was excited to play this game, seeing as so many people say it's beloved and one of the best games last generation, but to be honest, I could not really get into it. If you're a fan of jrpgs, you may not necessarily enjoy this - it's not an automatic shoe-in like other classic jrpgs might be.

    For one, the time-based simulator did not jive with me. I found it difficult to know what all    I was excited to play this game, seeing as so many people say it's beloved and one of the best games last generation, but to be honest, I could not really get into it. If you're a fan of jrpgs, you may not necessarily enjoy this - it's not an automatic shoe-in like other classic jrpgs might be.

    For one, the time-based simulator did not jive with me. I found it difficult to know what all of my options were in given time period at times, and I was always stressed out in choosing how I spent my time because I really didn't know what the impact of my decisions would be, or what I needed to prepare for. This is the kind of game where beating it once probably gives you the necessary information to make better informed decisions in subsequent playthroughs, but with the game being well over 100 hours, that's a proposition I don't want to take the developers up on.

    The other part of the game I did not enjoy was the combat. Mechanically, the combat is fine, but the rng is very brutal. If one of your party members misses an attack, or if your damage rolls much lower than it usually does, a fight that would have normally not wasted any HP or SP could spiral out of control and royally mess things up. For example, let's say a character misses an attack, and then that enemy that is on low health gets 3 crits in a row, and now 3 party members are below 25% hp despite being at max HP before the combat started - this can happen. It's very swingy like this. With SP being very limited in dungeons, using it to heal to recover from situations like this will really prevent you from finishing it in a smaller number of trips.

    RNG also plays a roll in deciding what enemies you will face. You could get unlucky and just face the hardest batch of enemies over and over - it can easily happen. The end-result is that you will have to spend more resources to heal up damage and/or prevent damage than if the encounters were more balanced.

    All this means is that grinding is actually fairly essential, even on normal difficulty, if you want to reduce your trips to do the dungeon to maximize your social time... which you probably want to do because you will end up with more abilities and stats compared to going in the dungeon multiple times.

    Beyond how much I did not like the swingy rng, the graphics are actually fairly terrible. Outside of the anime cutscenes and art (which do look great), the actual 3d engine looks similar to what you find in a PS2 game (only the resolution is higher). On top of this, camera rotation and movement is extremely clunky. It almost reminds me of Mario 64 - it's kind of that bad. Like if you tilt your analogy stick slowly to the half-way position, the camera does not move until after you pass that 50% tilt, and then moves suddenly by a lot, exactly like Mario 64 c-sticks did. I wish it was a lot smoother :/ Rotating the camera to see enemies behind corners and stuff feels awful - like it's really bad.

    There are some good things about the game. The voice acting is really good. The UI's and art style is neat. The music is quite good - some really nice tracks at times.

    Ultimately though, I did not enjoy the swinginess of the rng in combat or the stress of not knowing what the impact of my social decisions would be, which is basically the 2 largest parts of the actual gameplay. I think if the combat was less swingy and you were not as punished by the rng and if the game did a better job showing available options with consequences to make decisions more intelligently, I might have enjoyed the game. But I sort of think this game is overrated and I enjoyed other modern jrpgs like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Atelier Ryza, Octopath Traveler, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, etc. a lot more than this. I don't get the hype - I think you need to be a certain kind of person to enjoy this as there is a risk you might just not get into it. I could not finish it after about 10 hours or so - I was done.    … Expand
  42. peap21
    Apr 20, 2018
    7
    I was new to the Persona series and generally not a fan of turn-based combat RPG.
    I admit Persona 5 has a lot going for it and other reviewers would have listed those valid positive points. Therefore I will share only the 3 main negatives here. To me each of those was worth taking 1 point off the max score.
    - Game takes 15h minimum before you get playing more freely. Before then is only    I was new to the Persona series and generally not a fan of turn-based combat RPG.
    I admit Persona 5 has a lot going for it and other reviewers would have listed those valid positive points. Therefore I will share only the 3 main negatives here. To me each of those was worth taking 1 point off the max score.
    - Game takes 15h minimum before you get playing more freely. Before then is only dialogues and tutorials. That's quite a commitment when you don't know yet if you're going to like the game.
    - The combat part is definitely the most enjoyable (though not revolutionary). Still it is quite repetitive. Once the enemy's weakness is known, it becomes a pretty boring exercise.
    - Sooooooooo much text! Several times throughout the games, you will be just reading dialogues for 1 to 2h. The dialogues are mostly slow, naive and repetitive so it gets really boring.
    In summary, totally understand why some would like this game but I would have preferred 50h of denser gameplay to the proposed 120h lacking intensity.    … Expand
  43. Revoltado
    May 6, 2018
    6
    Seria muito bom se não tivesse uma quantidade EXORBITANTE de diálogo... pior que o 4... O pós game também não empolga...
  44. NateLane
    May 25, 2018
    7
    While the story, characters, and VO's are top notch in the english version of the game, I feel like the game hardly has any actual... game.. to it. When confronted with non-dialogue tasks, there are no actual choices to be had, as the game provides you with a single option. These "gameplay" moments are then heavily sandwiched by loading screens, cutscenes, and dialogue events that reallyWhile the story, characters, and VO's are top notch in the english version of the game, I feel like the game hardly has any actual... game.. to it. When confronted with non-dialogue tasks, there are no actual choices to be had, as the game provides you with a single option. These "gameplay" moments are then heavily sandwiched by loading screens, cutscenes, and dialogue events that really leave me wanting for more gameplay.… Expand
  45. michaelb1928
    Mar 27, 2019
    6
    a group of teenagers mask their mysterious alter egos, their "phantom thief" side. Who are they? Why are they dressed as such? What are their motives? And... why are they being
  46. shaggx83
    Jul 23, 2020
    7
    This is my second Persona game after Persona 4 Golden on PSVita. First of all, the stylish visual and upbeat music in this game is one of the best that I've seen. I generally love this game but it was a little bit too long for me. So many times I just lost interest and it took me a long time to get back to it. I wish it was not as long.
  47. discogolf
    Nov 21, 2019
    5
    I've never played a Persona game. I bought it based on rave reviews and had no idea what to expect beyond game play videos on Youtube. Turn rpg is boring and outdated. The game is very slow- you don't see combat for several days. Pop-ups interrupt you every 5 seconds. The game also give you fake diol huge options where you are given various ways to say the same thing, “say yes, say II've never played a Persona game. I bought it based on rave reviews and had no idea what to expect beyond game play videos on Youtube. Turn rpg is boring and outdated. The game is very slow- you don't see combat for several days. Pop-ups interrupt you every 5 seconds. The game also give you fake diol huge options where you are given various ways to say the same thing, “say yes, say I agree, or say totally!” This happens dozens of times.… Expand
  48. Luahanseng
    Aug 12, 2020
    7
    Finished the game for almost 250hrs. I dont like the ending compare to 4. i dont like the story compare to 4 and i dont like the battle mechanics compare to 4. particularly when your persona is summoned in this game, it appears as shadow and after it attacks it disappears. Unlike 4, when summoned its a new character appearing and battling in the game.
  49. streetkrc
    Aug 1, 2021
    5
    I did not like the game, I do not recommend it. It has interesting gameplay and nice art, that's all. The game is very long, after 40 hours you start to get tired of its monotony. There are a lot of stupid diologs. Heroes are also uninteresting, a bunch of losers. Bad mechanics and balance, as well as just awful implementation of saving.
  50. ieatcaramel
    Mar 31, 2020
    6
    a good ps3 game but the story could be improved. glad they improved it in royal which is a 10 on 10
  51. SiRock
    Oct 1, 2021
    5
    Perhaps the most tedious, slow and boring game I’ve played in a while. I love reading and don’t mind a good story driven game, but the writing in Persona 5 seems childish, dialogue borderline nonsensical. The tutorial lasts for like 15 hours, pop-ups and game interruptions make it an exercise in patience. At the same time, characters are likeable, combat pretty engaging. Overall narrativePerhaps the most tedious, slow and boring game I’ve played in a while. I love reading and don’t mind a good story driven game, but the writing in Persona 5 seems childish, dialogue borderline nonsensical. The tutorial lasts for like 15 hours, pop-ups and game interruptions make it an exercise in patience. At the same time, characters are likeable, combat pretty engaging. Overall narrative is interesting but I don’t have patience to ever go back to it… Expand
  52. Qirigin
    Jul 20, 2020
    7
    Its a good game but the game was to long, way to less voice and to mutch to read... The story at the end got very weird and the plotpoints didnt make mutch sense imo. They should have shorten it to 6 palaces or maybe even 5.
  53. natesacid
    Dec 19, 2020
    6
    Not enough lotus juice. That’s the entire review. Knack 2 baby. Also I hate Akechi.
  54. DelCast
    Aug 20, 2022
    6
    I have played every Persona since 3, and I would say JRPGs are some of my favorite games. But sadly I am quite disappointed with Persona 5. Don't get me wrong, It's an OK game, but I find a lot of it's flaws are very overlooked.

    It is certainly a very stylish game, menus are amazingly stylized and while some of the textures are muddy, the overall personality of characters and    I have played every Persona since 3, and I would say JRPGs are some of my favorite games. But sadly I am quite disappointed with Persona 5. Don't get me wrong, It's an OK game, but I find a lot of it's flaws are very overlooked.

    It is certainly a very stylish game, menus are amazingly stylized and while some of the textures are muddy, the overall personality of characters and environments shine though. The music also fits the art style nicely, which really shows an evolution from the previous games which were already quite stylish.

    But I feel that is the only real improvement.

    On the downside, From the very start, the game felt slow and meandering, both in its exposition, dialogue and in how much it holds your hand. This isn't particularly surprising for a JRPG, but a lot of the "social sim" type activities, and even the battles or "puzzles" in the dungeons, feel insanely overwritten and unnecessarily guided.

    The characters also tend to talk a lot but say very little, with constantly repetitive dialogue that rarely ever really fleshes out any of them beyond the clichés. P4 was very smart in the way in which the dungeons revealed hidden aspects of our party members, making them more human and serving as an introduction, but this game rarely understands how important that is when building a long story like this.

    Dungeons, while visually improved, are not mechanically interesting, whenever a puzzle is introduced, the game basically solves it for you, never trusting in the player's intelligence. Additionally, the controls and the stealth aspect of the game are very awkward, so these gimmicks play out as badly implemented mechanics that add very little to the game.
    Moreover, the tremendously restrictive nature of the game always prevents you from feeling any growth, as the battles can either be a complete breeze (done in one or two turns) or go bad FAST. And this structure remains throughout almost all the game (this may have been the same in P4, but i personally felt like I could grind if I wanted and feel a more rewarding progression, while through the first 40 hours of P5, SP is so restrictive that this feels almost impossible).

    And the worst culprit, the story. Persona 3 and 4 both have twists and turns that, can be satisfying, but end up falling more on the side of clichè. However, this is less of a problem when those games had a less self serious perspective.
    P5 is always at the edge of something interesting, always toying with the idea of saying something challenging, but it constantly stumbles, stretches and ultimately drops the ball and falls into the clichés again and again, It lacks subtlety to actually explore any of the interesting topics it hints at: For example, It constantly asks if it is really correct to basically brain wash people? But then it shows completely monstrous comically evil rivals, so it can deflect the conflict : These are monsters so, DUH.
    It tries to be cool and mature, it ends up feeling childish and defaulting to basically EVERY JRPG trope, while taking itself WAY too seriously.

    There are many more issues with the game, i find, the unskipable repeated sequences (seriously, the post fight animation is 10+ seconds long, and plays fully after each of the hundreds of fights in the game), the seemingly filler dungeons, the often pointless extended exposition, which serves very little narrative purpose. And smaller peeves, such as the impossibility to 100% the game (in one 100+ hour playthrough), questionable treatment of topics, and extreme length of the game just make me think Atlus felt compelled to bloat this game, and never wrote or designed thoughtfully around it.

    It is possible that many of these problems were present in the previous games of the series but i feel like the run time and the somewhat less fleshed out cast really end up damaging the complete package.    … Expand
  55. max1c
    Jul 15, 2018
    7
    It's a good game. Good writing, deep gameplay, good story, nice art, nice mechanics. But poor design shows. The game was made in 2017 but plays like it's from the early 2000s. It has some of the worst controls I have ever seen in any game. Most of the time you find yourself fighting the controls rather than the enemies. A ton of long load screens. Also, this game is extremely linear.
  56. Steyraus
    Jun 23, 2020
    7
    I am not a fan of turn based combat, but Persona has such charm and character that it pull me in. It is still boring after time though.
  57. Garathiel
    Dec 18, 2022
    6
    Cutted story, boring sessions of ripetitive gameplay, choose royal edition! It's another game!
  58. death12123
    Jan 28, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A Solid game but as a SMT game? Didn't really live up to my expectations.

    The soundtrack is good but the DLC like Raidou, Persona 2, Catherine and SMT 4 make it a million times better.
    Story could be better, bad ending, a character written in for no reason and a obvious villian.
    The dungeon crawling is amazing for first time but outside of Mementos if you know the pattern is too easy and the same every single time.
    Characters are good but a step down from 2 and 3 but a huge step up from 4. Nothing terrible and annoying like Chie, Teddie and Nanako. Also no Mr. Perfect thank god.
    The school life is absolutely boring but when you get to the dungeons it's amazing.
    The Social Links in this game are good but suck because they're FORCED unlike before especially with unlocking Ultimates. Who forces something optional to unlock the best? Some social links literally mean nothing. "I'm gonna change for better!" Then 5 minutes later go back to being the same idiot they ever were. Others actually had good impact.
    Difficulty is nothing. Even on Hard. All it just is, is you take more damage and gain less EXP. That's it.

    I wouldn't replay this again and it's only good for one playthrough. Maybe Royal might change that. Overall it's a solid game but more for casual players.

    Hoping this funded SMT V enough and will bring more Mainline and Spin-Off games. The best points being Nocturne, Raidou Kuzunoha, Soul Hackers, Persona 2 EP, SMT 4:A, etc.    … Expand
  59. marmoset13
    May 17, 2017
    7
    I loved playing this game, but found even the easy and normal settings overwhelming. I didn't want to play it on "safe" out of fear of missing out on trophies and new game plus carry-overs. I couldn't even get past the first dungeon in the thirteen days I was given. I am not a great gamer by any means, but I love the Persona series and feel like I was left behind just to please theI loved playing this game, but found even the easy and normal settings overwhelming. I didn't want to play it on "safe" out of fear of missing out on trophies and new game plus carry-overs. I couldn't even get past the first dungeon in the thirteen days I was given. I am not a great gamer by any means, but I love the Persona series and feel like I was left behind just to please the high-difficulty gaming crowd.… Expand
  60. egoBorder
    Sep 30, 2022
    5
    This game is stylish and cool, but its long development time shows in some awful quality-of-life decisions. In brief, sessions of this game often were entertaining but usually ended at some point where frustration with the linearity and info/dialogue dumps forced me to quit and not return for days or weeks. Persona 5 is totally worth playing, but interface and pacing may drive someThis game is stylish and cool, but its long development time shows in some awful quality-of-life decisions. In brief, sessions of this game often were entertaining but usually ended at some point where frustration with the linearity and info/dialogue dumps forced me to quit and not return for days or weeks. Persona 5 is totally worth playing, but interface and pacing may drive some players insane. The game's good parts have been praised elsewhere, and they are all valid, but personally I find it hard to recommend a game that wastes so much of my time and whose story moves at a Harry Potter-esque glacial pace despite obvious clues.… Expand
  61. Firmament1
    Apr 4, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Persona 5 is one of the most overrated games I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing. Everyone is ignoring the severe flaws that are in this game.
    "It's the best game ever made!"
    "GOTY!"
    Heck no it ain't.
    Now, I don't dislike everything about it. Otherwise, I would've given it a 1 or 0. The gameplay improvements, as well as the music are great. Certain arcs are great. However, everything else? Crap.
    The story is the EXACT SAME THING as Persona 3 and 4. Go to a new town, supernatural crap happens, new dimension discovered, get party members, repeat 2 times, then pick up the story a bit. After that, reveal this human traitor (Which is always terribly executed, Ikutsuki was killed too fast, Adachi's motives were "I was bored, so I killed people", and Akechi was rushed, and they slapped a sad backstory on him). Oh no! There's this other guy pulling the strings, so we need to kill them! Kill "Epic god boss" (Which is terribly executed in Persona 4 and 5), and then end the game. In which it's the same thing as Persona 4.
    As I said, Palace 1, 4, and 6 are great. However, 2 and 3 are just repeats of Palace 1, just with far worse execution. Palace 5's writing is utterly insulting, and condescending. They keep beating you over the head with obvious plot points that have been repeated. The palace is frustrating, and boring. All around garbage. Palace 7 is rushed, and despite the buildup, is highly underwhelming. Shido is a 1-dimensional cartoon villain with very little development. I've already explained Akechi earlier, so I'll leave that. Yaldabaoth's defeat with "You can do it Phantom Thieves!" is unbelievably contrived. I have never been so disappointed with a game's ending.
    Confidants still do nothing for the story at all. Character development is the same thing. Get dragged into a palace for whatever the reason, encounter palace boss, get mad, rant about how they're not society's slave anymore, and then boom, awaken Persona. Proceed to get tossed off to the side right after the arc. Oh, and now their character development has been locked to Social Links, just like in Persona 4, which was a terrible decision. Great to see they've improved character development so much in this game. /s
    Dialogue options still don't do a thing. How nice. Still haven't fixed that, I see. My god, can't they make this game more like Fallout, where dialogue options actually DO something? When will they finally address these?
    Battle system is the same as Persona 4, just with the ability for One Mores to be passed to teammates, and hold ups. I guess that's some improvement. Oh, and I guess it looks prettier.

    In conclusion?

    Pros
    - Great starter arc
    - Palace 4 and 6 were well-done
    - Gameplay improvements
    - Music

    Cons
    - Repetitive in story, and character development
    - Beats you over the head with plot points we've already heard.
    - Contrivances
    - Traitor
    - Has some of the worst villains I've ever seen in a story
    - Character development locked to confidants
    - Confidants don't affect story
    - Dialogue options do nothing
    - Same thing as Persona 3 and 4

    Incredibly disappointed by this game. Persona fanboys will hate on me for this. Go ahead. I don't care about this game anymore. On the bright side, someone's giving it away online for free.    … Expand
  62. PCLBrunelli
    Nov 20, 2019
    6
    Jogo cansativo, muito extenso, tema politicalizado... Gráficos bons, músicas & efeitos ótimos, jogabilidade boa...
  63. Lulcy
    Jun 27, 2019
    7
    This game 30hs longer than it should be, too much padding to hide how either underdeveloped some of its themes and story beats are. Good thing the game is filled with style to distract most players from that.
  64. vodkaffee
    Jan 20, 2020
    6
    a complete disappointment. unlikable characters with uninteresting quests. lame story. good soundtrack and battle system. but comparing it to persona 4 is a step down in every level
  65. hello_world
    Aug 4, 2019
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The art style of the game is stellar, making the game stand out in a way that many games don't even try to. P5 also carries the tradition of great music to accompany both intense battles and mundane school life.

    The gameplay of Persona 5 is far and beyond the most refined the game has ever been. giving dungeons a unique layout does wonders in making them stand out and the theming of the dungeons does a great job at selling the high-stakes heist vibe. The party's Persona's are also nicely chosen, giving each character a rebel Persona to fit the band of misfits.

    My misgivings is the narrative and characters, which I feel are a step down from P4. The theme of P5 is freedom and rehabilitation. This works well with the prison motif of the Velvet room, but this theme seems disconnected with the idea of going on heist to stop corrupt adults. The characters, are also less engaging. The main problem is that Atlus wanted to use momentos in all of their story lines to help them with a problem. But the result is that you don't really get to know about these characters as well. For example, Makoto's storyline was focused on helping out her friend, which takes away from learning more about Makoto. Sojiro's story is also essentially a watered down version of Dojima in P4. This usually wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the characters is a main reason why I like the persona series and this made P5 feel like a disappointment.    … Expand
  66. dadel
    Sep 20, 2019
    7
    I have played it for 120 hours so it is is clear that I enjoyed it. It is 120 hours of story, no generic side quests. And if you have been to Tokyo, you will visit many familiar places here.
    However, the game has a few major flaws.
    1) You cannot take screenshots which is sad. I like to take pictures in games just like during travels - to retain memories. Now my memories of Persona 5 will    I have played it for 120 hours so it is is clear that I enjoyed it. It is 120 hours of story, no generic side quests. And if you have been to Tokyo, you will visit many familiar places here.
    However, the game has a few major flaws.
    1) You cannot take screenshots which is sad. I like to take pictures in games just like during travels - to retain memories. Now my memories of Persona 5 will fade in a few years. It would be understandable a few weeks after release as a protection against spoilers. But after two years, when entire game is on Youtube? Come on..
    2) The soundtrack is very repetitive. There is just a few songs that you'll hear 1000 times. For example, in the Cafe Leblanc which serves as your homebase and you'll spend a lot of time there, there plays this: [search "Persona 5 OST - Night Rain (Vocal Version)" on Youtube]. The song is quite nice..at first. But not for 1000th time. And things will get worse - during almost all battles you'll hear this stupid disco: [search "Last Surprise [With Lyrics!] (Persona 5)" on Youtube]. Again, and again, and again, for the entire 120 hour playthrough. Annoying for the second time, equivalent of waterboarding for the 1000th time.
    3) There is a lot of text in the game. A LOT. It is an equivalent of National Library. You are dragged from one conversation to another and you cannot avoid it so you just mindlessly press X to advance. "Auto-advance" feature in the settings applies to just roughly half of the texts. Sometimes you have 3 choices of answer but in most cases all three have the same meaning. And the worst part - most of the texts is just a filler and contain nothing of interest. The characters just comment on obvious things, again and again. On everything you do in the game.
    You enter a safe room:
    Character 1: "Finally we can rest a bit" (press X)
    You leave a safe room:
    Character 1: "We have rested and now let's get back to work" (press X)
    Character 2: "I'm looking forward to kick their butts" (press X)
    Character 3: "The dungeon is big but we are halfway through" (press X)
    Character 4: "Yeah, let's go, Joker!" (press X)
    You take a sh*t and wipe your ass:
    Character 1: "This is awesome! You can use this paper to clean your ass!" (press X)
    Character 2: "Sugoi! I like that." (press X)
    Character 3: "I wish I had such paper to clean my ass" (press X)
    Character 4: "We have such paper at home. You don't?" (press X)
    Character 3: "No we don't." (press X)
    Character 5: "Let's concentrate on our quest. Once we steal the treasure, we'll buy a lot of toilet paper" (press X)
    ok, I invented the last part but you get the point..    … Expand
  67. JP_Wilde
    Jun 19, 2020
    5
    I tried to like the game, but I couldn't.
    I even got used to the mechanics of the game and the simulation of school life, but there are things that bothered me a lot and take away my patience.
    First, you almost never have the freedom and time to do what you want, because there is always something to do and you spend a whole day, or sometimes you do something silly and end the day. But    I tried to like the game, but I couldn't.
    I even got used to the mechanics of the game and the simulation of school life, but there are things that bothered me a lot and take away my patience.
    First, you almost never have the freedom and time to do what you want, because there is always something to do and you spend a whole day, or sometimes you do something silly and end the day.
    But what makes me most angry is the fact that the game always trolls the player, when you have few resources and want to leave a dungeon, the game forces you to walk through everything that has happened again to find either an exit or a Safe Room '', but resurrecting all the enemies that you exhaustedly defeated, so if you are unlucky enough to fall into a battle in which a CURSE enemy decides to focus on the Joker, you lose the entire battle even though you have 3 Party alive, then you lose at least 1 hour with absolutely nothing, go back to the beginning of the last save you made.
    I wanted to play for fun, not to get bored and waste time like that, you feel your time being wasted in seconds, it makes me sick.
    The game is not bad, but it is very frustrating and random, especially when enemies teleport in front of you right after finishing a battle against another.
    I hate walking around on several maps one by one just to get out of the dungeon, and if you die, you lose your hours at the cost of NOTHING!    … Expand
  68. MnameJeff
    Feb 23, 2020
    5
    Fitting that Persona 5 gets a rating of 5. In my opinion one of the most overrated games of all time, and I’ve played this game all the way through 3 times. I’ll start with the positives. 1, the gameplay is great, the turn based combat system in this game feels great to use and the menus are nice and fast. 2, the UI as everyone already knows is over the top, flashy, and pretty sick to lookFitting that Persona 5 gets a rating of 5. In my opinion one of the most overrated games of all time, and I’ve played this game all the way through 3 times. I’ll start with the positives. 1, the gameplay is great, the turn based combat system in this game feels great to use and the menus are nice and fast. 2, the UI as everyone already knows is over the top, flashy, and pretty sick to look at. And that’s all for the positive, onto the negative. 1, the story is very mediocre and peaks at the first dungeon only to go down from there, this review is spoiler free so I won’t go in depth, but I’ll say there’s one character that’s handled terribly and is the worst part of the story, with many other meh things too. 2, the character development, while I think the characters themselves range from terrible to great, they’re development sucks. For example, they learn a big lesson in the first dungeon only to completely abandon what they learned in the second dungeon and use it as comedy. 3, the dungeons, they range from terrible to good, with most of them being very meh, and as everyone knows the 5th dungeon is terrible. 4, the difficulty, this game is a complete cakewalk, as someone who’s played many other RPG’s this game offers little to no challenge throughout almost the whole game, the hardest dungeon in my opinion is the first one and only because you don’t have a good grip on the gameplay yet. 5, the calendar system that the game uses where you play through every single individual day can get very boring, especially during summer it feels like there’s nothing to do, leading right into the next and final point. 6, social links (confidants), for the most part tend to be pretty boring with some standouts like Iwai being great. My final say on this game is: you’ll probably think it’s amazing, even a 9/10 or a 10/10 on your first playthrough like I did, but after replaying the game the magic of my first playthrough started to fade away and I saw how mediocre the game really was under that thick polish of slick UI and fun comabt. Thanks to anybody who reads this whole thing through.… Expand
  69. ilx4ever
    Aug 26, 2020
    6
    It's a nice game, but it is not for everyone. I wish someone have told me that before I bought it. Graphics are not on a level you expect from a game with such a score. The sound is on the same level as graphics. Gameplay is slow, but that's how it should be for a game like that. The story is the magical thing that keeps you playing the game.
  70. Ginger_Avenger
    Dec 11, 2022
    7
    This game certainly has a strong sense of style. The story is a bit laughably convoluted at times, and combat gets old after while- although to be fair , both of those things can be said about a lot of Anime-esque turn based Japanese RPGs that I've played. Moreover, its the characters you're meant to care about, not the plot so much. So, overall, I thought the combo of life/time managementThis game certainly has a strong sense of style. The story is a bit laughably convoluted at times, and combat gets old after while- although to be fair , both of those things can be said about a lot of Anime-esque turn based Japanese RPGs that I've played. Moreover, its the characters you're meant to care about, not the plot so much. So, overall, I thought the combo of life/time management and dungeon exploration to more engrossing than I had expected.… Expand
  71. Tigloco9
    Apr 26, 2022
    7
    Charming and stylish in its presentation. Preposterously basic in its plot and themes. Some character introductions and confidant stories will cause you to roll your eyes several times, but that's the definitive Japanese game experience after all. For all its mechanics, the game becomes very easy no matter the difficulty and repetitive in it's combat, but the high-level personas will keepCharming and stylish in its presentation. Preposterously basic in its plot and themes. Some character introductions and confidant stories will cause you to roll your eyes several times, but that's the definitive Japanese game experience after all. For all its mechanics, the game becomes very easy no matter the difficulty and repetitive in it's combat, but the high-level personas will keep you going, because how can you not check them out. You can easily get 300 hours out of this game. And when it's all done, you might even feel sad that it's over. … Expand
  72. Weyfet18
    Jul 22, 2022
    7
    un gran juego pero el gato de los cojones me caga y desearia que lo eleminaran en futuras actualizaciones gracias
  73. RPGconnoiseur
    Jul 23, 2022
    5
    As someone who only plays RPGs recommended by metacritic, this was an ok non-JRPG
  74. Barrage
    Apr 24, 2023
    7
    I have a strong love-hate relationship with this game. It has fun style, and plays a lot like a Final Fantasy game. The music is initially catchy, but quickly becomes obnoxious. The game has some long segments between save points, and difficulty spikes in combat can be very frustrating.
  75. Foxoczu
    Oct 18, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Persona 5 is a really nice game. It has good mechanics and all but... I'm giving it 7 bc they deleted reverse and break mechanic which would make us think more about how to spend our time. Plot is nice but the first moments may put you to sleep… Expand
  76. zarvx
    Jul 20, 2023
    7
    my first introduction to persona, and loved it i wish they could have done more with the plot development though.

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PS4 Game of 2017
4
#4 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
2
#2 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 98 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 98
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 98
  3. Negative: 0 out of 98
  1. Cubed3
    Jun 4, 2019
    90
    Persona 5 is an absolutely amazing game that convinces with its art style, music and story. It has anything one could ask for such a game and more. The turn-based battle system offers a wide array of opportunities. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is definitely recommended to give it a go.
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  2. PLAY! Zine
    Feb 22, 2018
    90
    Persona 5 is a great example of quality jRPG game, with a good story, great battle system and fabulous artistic style, this is a must have for the fans of the series and the genre.
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  3. Power Unlimited
    Oct 19, 2017
    93
    Persona 5 beats every other turn-based RPG in terms of production values, combat, story, symbolics, character design, music, pace and variety. 2017 is a great year for gaming and Persona 5 confirms this with a load of unmatched swagger.
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