Forum - View topicGAME: Persona5: The Phantom X Game Review
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2722 |
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Nobody14
Posts: 49 |
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The idea that the Subway Slammer writer thought fire was flowing from his pen and that actual internal drama arose from how bad the idea was is sending me man
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LinkTSwordmaster
 Posts: 816 Location: PA / USA |
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I've run my arse up and down this website blathering time & again about how disappointed I've been as of late, in various aspects of the series. It's a pain once again, that in a game where dating is happening and so much of your individual identity is laced into the main character as you play, that P5X gender-locks you.
In spite of my distaste for the general tone the series has kept post-Persona 3, I've had a bit of a shocking revelation.... This is actually, as primarily a Megami Tensei fan first, THE best Persona game I have played since Persona 3. WTF - I've put almost 100 hours into it since it launched, and I want MORE. It barely feels like 100 hours have passed. I'm kind of shocked because Kevin's review has the sort of tone that usually gets me tossed around in the comments for trying to draw critique to something like (more recently) Mario Kart World, and yet two points stand that I keep seeing recur everywhere that's posting reviews: Players, typically Persona 5 fans, seem to be blasting Kiuchi (the first Menace) because his story seems too goofy or small-time. Players are either having technical issues or problems navigating the game. I cannot really speak to the tech problems, as everything has been lag-free and crash-free on PC. I may be in a minority with an advantage, but the controls feel more or less like what I remember them from Persona 4 and 5's original prints, and I'm used to one-handing my gamepad while playing Phantasy Star because various portions of PSO requires you interact with the mouse or keyboard. Hot-swapping between to the two control methods is something I shine at, and so long as you're not the sort to collapse under visual over-stimulation, it's been just fine. If anything, I'm enjoying trying to 100% the Persona compendium on P5X and navigate Mementos - two activities that I found to be grating during Persona 5's original run. Handwaving Kiuchi is where I'm kind of legitimately bothered because he fixes something I royally hated on Persona 5 - things felt way too overly-tropey on P5 to the point that Kamoshida and everyone after him feels so over-the-top evil that it becomes weirdly-slapstick. It made some sense within the context of P5's story mind you, since it was a story about various aspects of the country and its economy exploiting/sucking the life out of the youth, BUT! same as with Persona 4, it felt like both games' narrative structure/pacing collapsed (especially in late-game) from becoming way too predictable and formulaic (while forced to adhere to the calendar system). P5X's first two villains actually seem appropriately small-time for first-time Phantom Thieves. It's something I have not seen since the early days of Persona. The gradual build of the SEES team, learning what the Midnight Hour was slowly, or random stuff about teachers or convenience store owners having a secret double-life on Persona 1 & 2. The twist is that while Kiuchi starts off looking like a cut&paste of Kamoshida, the way they have Motoha react to learning more about his past & what is really going on with him felt a lot more nuanced than just having a sluttier version of Anne dance around various scenes. The takeaway, especially at the end of the episode, is that Wonder is 100% sure, on no uncertain terms, that Kiuchi was going to be a murderer and what he'd been doing up until now was pushing his boundaries the same way a "Dexter" ramps up their craft and practises small first. It was a change in the way that they pace & structure one of these villain's arcs, that it felt like it was a return to the storytelling I enjoyed more on earlier SMT titles. In a story where everyone is having the will to live or even act sucked out of them, the ability for the characters to intervene is something that was not possible in Persona 5's original run. I'm not saying it's perfect and there isn't anime-coded weirdness present in the first Palace's story, but to be told that they axed the writer has me worried since I've legitimately enjoyed the difference of P5X's writing compared to recent Persona campaigns. The moment you start seeing the new P5X characters interact with the OG P5 cast during the crossover missions, the cat is making perv comments about their team's leading lady, and they start descending into immature slapstick. The tonal shift is immediate and it becomes instantly noticeable how much more unserious and joke-ish the OG P5 cast is in their interactions once they're onscreen and I cannot stand it.
I'm assuming this is The Other Side, or something like it. If so, the ramifications of it or something similar would be amazing. They've not been particularly predatory with the live service elements, and I suspect the game would not have even been made if it hadn't been penned as one, much as I'd prefer this was "buy & own". It's worth checking out, and I do hope there isn't a return to the elements that I loathe from Persona 4 and 5 once the first two story arcs wrap up - I've never had this much fun in 100 hours with modern Persona until now, and there's absolutely no reason you need pay money to play & enjoy it. Those are not words I can use when talking about Mario Kart World currently, -insert evil laughter here. 
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Eddy2
Posts: 286 |
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"He's the most pathetic, laughable excuse for a Persona game enemy I've ever seen".
At least they tried to do something with him, I guess. spoiler[Ikutsuki] from P3 is still the worst and most lazily written character in the whole franchise. The anime movies and Reload didn't even try to fix him at all. |
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EmeraldSaucer
 Posts: 947 |
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Not as glowing, but will say that I've been pleasantly surprised (and have already sunk 40 hours into it). In some ways P5X is weirdly more elaborate in scope than actual mainline entries; I was a bit floored when I got to the soccer goal kicking mini-game that has its own level system. I do think there are some cracks writing-wise (the ways in which the game tries to connect Kiuchi being extremely prideful over his baseball skills to him lusting over women is frankly nonsensical by the end of his arc and reeks of someone desperately trying to fit within the original P5's sin motif), but the writer of said material also got the boot after this initial content so whatever
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LinkTSwordmaster
Posts: 816 Location: PA / USA |
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Ultimax actually retroactively did some cool stuff with it, it ties up Persona 3 and 4 fairly well IMO. Even if you're not keen on sitting through a fighting game (oy, this series....) it's worth pulling up the P4A story on YouTube and then the Ultimax one after, and just watching it like a giant movie.
Again I'm not trying to say "it's not Persona 5 so it's better!" or anything so bland.... This seems to be a detail that everyone keeps missing - the key at the center of it (and mind you it's like one line of text or so). It's the validation. The whole point to what's happened to him is that somewhere along the line he was chasing the validation and eventually when he grew up and he lost it, rather than blame the fact that he was chasing clout and fame and booze and women (it's implied he had a drinking problem too given what the interviewers say in the scene), that he shifts the blame to the women around him rather than towards himself for internally measuring his success by what he materially gained from it. Now could that have been communicated a bit clearer or better? Probably. I see a lot of people missing that particular note when they talk about the arc, but again, I think it's keeps him from being so comically-over-evil that I read the whole thing a lot more favorably than I did P5's first arc. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20045 |
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That episodic structure worked for me as we got to introduce and get to know the Thieves through each Target, but your mileage may vary.
The team could be serious when need be, they just have a lot of humorous moments too! |
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FireballDragon
 Posts: 743 |
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Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one who held grievance with this game. Yeah, it plays like a clumsy AF mofo, making it damn near impossible to consistently enjoy. I thought Tactica was dull, but at least it was consistent. Atlus really needs to stop with the Persona 5 spinoffs already and move onto different projects.
Still holding out for a Digital Devil Saga remaster... |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 7208 |
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Irony not lost. Signed someone that wants a remake of 4. |
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JustMonika
Posts: 1574 |
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I have this on my Steam Deck OLED and it's a blast.
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Nekbone
Posts: 214 |
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The Subway Slammer thing is funny because you could easily remedy it by simply changing it to him be a killer who pushes people onto Subway tracks to kill them. Raises the stakes to make him a genuine threat rather than a petty D-tier Mementos villain.
The game itself is okay but the recent reveal that the global version is being screwed is annoying. I hope enough backlash happens to remedy it. |
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