Current Events > Persona 5 could have been an excellent game but Atlus dropped the ball

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tldr

Kamoshida good. Rest of game not so good



Unmarked spoilers

From the beginning of the game up to the takedown of Kamoshida, this game was fantastic. Like holy shit levels of fantastic. I don't think I need to explain why Kamoshida was such a great villain. The party member had a personal grudge against him. He felt real of course since he was based on a real person. I could spend this entire topic gushing about the Kamoshida arc. Even the castle palace was really good. Everything from the layout to the demons themselves fit the theme. And then there's everything after Kamoshida...

What were the devs thinking? Writing took a nosedive as the game progressed. It didn't pick back up until the Casino slightly but then it dipped again. Each villain felt more cartoonish after the next. The palaces got worse until the Casino. Then, you have the cruise palace fucking up all over again. The party members were poorly written and that showed throughout the game. Morgana's entirely dilemma about feeling useless made zero sense. Nobody but Ryuji called him useless but that was just playful banter. Morgana dished tons of shit to Ryuji throughout the game but then got butthurt when Ryuji fired back. And we're supposed to feel sorry for the cat? Huh? Ann's entire arc at first centered around her not being seen as a sexual object for Kamoshida and getting justice for her friend. After that, her beauty is played for laughs. "Ann, please pose nude for Yusuke! It's necessary lol". Yes, how funny. Ryuji is involved in one of the worst moments of the game where he saves the party and as a result, they beat him or some stupid shit. Seriously?

Yusuke was just kind of there after his arc with Madarame. Granted, his Confidant was good so that makes up for something compared to the others. Makoto, oh boy. Rename her to "Let me state the obvious and be praised as a genius". That's her entire character. She's perfect from the moment she joins the team and assumes the leadership role. Her only redeeming quality is her ass. Futaba is just as bad. Her hacking skills trivializes any problem in the game. Just have her do "anime hacking" and every problem is solved. Need to know the space palaces key words? Have Futaba do some hacking. Akechi is up to no good? Futaba, hack his phone!

Haru might as well not exist. Her forehead has more of a presence that her personality. Akechi is a mass murdering psycho who killed several of the party's parents yet they were still willing to let him join and defeat Shido. I don't need to say anymore on his character arc. Speaking of Senator Armstrong, I like how every villain and tragic event in Japan is related to this man as if the devs don't have any confidence in the themes of their own game. Why couldn't it have just been a random adult with power who Joker got involved with when he protected that lady? Why not reinforce the notion that any random person can completely fuck you over even though you were just trying to do the right thing and help people? Why couldn't they even bother to try with the writing in Persona 5 after Kamoshida's arc?

This game in nearly 80 hours long at least. If you go on Youtube and look up P5 cutscenes, you'll get nearly 40 hours worth of story comprised in two videos. The player needs a reason to be invested in this game because the shallow stealth mechanics and the tedious combat sure as hell won't keep the player engaged for the entire journey. Nearly every enemy encounter feels the same. At least the music is good for the most part. Some of the boss themes aren't that great compared to the rest of the game's music. Yes, Rivers in the Desert sounds great but it's the only boss theme that really stands out. At least P3 had Master of Shadows, Master of Tartarus, Unavoidable Battle, and Battle for Everyone's Souls. P4 had I'll Face Myself, The Almighty, and New World Fool. Even P1 has Bloody Destiny and Pandora, The Last Battle.
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yeah if the villains got as much face time with the crew as kamoshida did, and seeing some of the consequences of the villains actions, p5 would be the goat.
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