My gripes

[Remilia Scarlet]

I’ve finally gotten around to really playing P5 after buying it at launch and I’m loving the game. However, I need to vent about several gripes I have with the game. They aren’t terribly big but they add up to be quite annoying for me.

 

First off, the visuals. P5 does not have bad graphics - that is not what I mean. What I mean by visuals is that they decided to ditch the art style of P4/P4G and went with cel shading. I hate this so much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful game but the janky cel shading makes navigating the darker dungeons a pain in the ass. I prefered the visuals of P4 way more. 

 

Secondly, the dungeons themselves. Holy crap they drag on. Amazing interior designs and a much better level layout from P4 but dear God they take forever to complete. It might just be me but I don’t remember P4’s dungeons taking nearly so long. I’ve been exploring Kamoshida’s dungeon for three days (real time AND game time) and I’m only halfway through. I’m enjoying the combat and I’m leveling up decently fast but fuck I’m just ready for this Palace to be over. Kamoshida has become a thorn in my side that I’m ready to be rid of.

 

Lastly, the management of time. This is my biggest gripe, and directly ties into anither major issue I have - Morgana. With everything the game throws at you in terms of exploration and your daily life, I expected to be able to explore Shibuya and manage my social links on my own, just like P4. NOPE! Not if Morgana doesn’t want me to! Explored a palace and want to sell the items for more money? Absolutely not! You have to go to bed! Oh you finished school and want to go to Shibuya! Hell no, you have to finish the palace first! I’ve gone through six days in April trying to find time to sell my useless junk and stock up on items for the Kamoshida battle but Morgana refuses to let me do my own thing.

 

I hate Morgana and I despise this new time management system. I get it! We have a deadline! BUT I KNOW BEST HOW TO MANAGE MY TIME YOU STUPID CAT!!!

 

Sigh... there is so much this game gets right, but there is so much they messed up on coming from P4. Morgana is the worst companion especially.

 

/end rant

[SkyMason]

This game is fantastic, but the pacing absolutely kills it. Everything gets dragged out, and it really kills the last third of the game. It's nice the dungeons aren't randomly generated like P4G, but that doesn't make them anymore interesting in the grand scheme of things, they are mostly just long hallways again.

 

IDK, I loved this game, but unlike P4G which I platted not long after finishing it for the first time, I was so burnt out after finishing P5 the first thing I did was uninstall it. I'll do my second run one day, but that really isn't anytime soon tbh.

[Han_the_Dragon]

The 1st dungeon/month works as an intro, that's why the game isn't letting you do whatever you feel like (time management wise), after you are done with that, the game truly opens up.

 

This was the same on previous games too. But the way the exploration and dungeons work in this game, make it take more time to clear then on the earlier games, because all dungeons are scripted and need you to do some stuff in it and in the real world to clear them.

 

I really didn't felt like they were really long (but I think that they are in average longer then the P4 ones), but then I actually really like the feel of the game, as well as the fusion system, so I overlook a bit the fact that they are big, because I'm having fun fusing Personas..

[Dragon-Archon]

I second Han_the_Dragon's post. Also when you get SP regen skills/equipment, palace exploration speeds up a lot too.

[SnowxSakura]

Also when you level up a specific social link, you'll be able to go out on nights after visiting a palace. I hated the dungeons too though, you can't just level up to 99 early and bypass everything quickly, the shadows don't run away from you if you're overleveled like in previous titles.

[Dragon-Archon]

1 hour ago, SnowxSakura said:

Also when you level up a specific social link, you'll be able to go out on nights after visiting a palace. I hated the dungeons too though, you can't just level up to 99 early and bypass everything quickly, the shadows don't run away from you if you're overleveled like in previous titles.

Not sure about the palace shadows, but I remember the ones in Mementos running away when revisiting early floors.

[SnowxSakura]

11 minutes ago, Dragon-Archon said:

Not sure about the palace shadows, but I remember the ones in Mementos running away when revisiting early floors.

That's the only area they do, the final dungeon section however, they don't. It makes the dungeons a lot more tedious on new game plus when you just want to get through the dungeons quickly

[Beyondthegrave07]

2 hours ago, SkyMason said:

This game is fantastic, but the pacing absolutely kills it. Everything gets dragged out, and it really kills the last third of the game. It's nice the dungeons aren't randomly generated like P4G, but that doesn't make them anymore interesting in the grand scheme of things, they are mostly just long hallways again.

 

IDK, I loved this game, but unlike P4G which I platted not long after finishing it for the first time, I was so burnt out after finishing P5 the first thing I did was uninstall it. I'll do my second run one day, but that really isn't anytime soon tbh.

I agree with it being dragged out. it was a great game with some fantastic turn-based combat, but I felt that the game would never end. I think 4 or 5 well-made palaces that couldn't be done in a single day would have sufficed. Beating Momentos was just sooo long. I did not expect it to take me as long as it did and kind of killed the ending for me. I was worn-out by the time it was all said and done. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Beyondthegrave07

[ossama_2010]

Agreed, one of the worst things I hate about Persona 5 is the pacing. On top of that I felt like the story had no real consequences and felt very barebones in terms of variation (It's quite literally the same story about friendship they've been recreating since Persona 3 and probably before that as well minus the amazingly dark rich story of P3).

Persona 3 will always have a special place in my heart, best in the series easily. 

[QuentinCle95]

I absolutely loved every facet of the art design, and though I get that the dungeons can be long, I never think they're too long, cuz they're of such high quality. I basically only agree on the Morgana thing, and that's an old meme at this point. And once you get used to expecting that Morgana is gonna be a bitch, you can plan your life around it and give it a place in your schedule, so after a while, it doesn't matter that much anymore. What I found more annoying was when unannounced story events that took up days fucked up your planning for other things. Also, the stealth was very imperfect when it came to camera adjustments, going around corners, but that's basically a nitpick.