Both. Neither worked well for me.

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I FINALLY got around to playing Persona 5 again, after having stopped a few days before November 19th, which is the plot's cut-off date in terms of catching up to the plot, and deciding if you get the first Bad Ending or continue onto the True Path. I saved and did go for the Bad Ending first, in case it's a Trophy.

First off, after getting onto the True Path there are WAY TOO MANY SCENES. And too much talking. Shut up, I know how you achieved everything. Shush. Stop talking. Oh my god, you have been talking for almost an hour now!

Second, the 7th Palace - the Ship - freaking sucks. The hallways suck, the rat mechanic gets old, and getting the letters was annoying. I was losing my patience with the Black Mask, but then, I am well-known for not caring for someone's sobstory of an 'excuse' for their behavior. How things played out, though, felt like a real let down.

And all I knew about the palace's boss was that it had 5 Phases. I didn't know weaknesses/strengths, but given how hyped up this boss was, I was expecting something. ...that wasn't a very difficult boss. At all. Half the time, I just punched the boss and took more off than with magical attacks. And I wasn't using any Rakunda. I used one Soma, but mostly to restore everyone's SP. Man, what a letdown of a 'big boss' this one was...

At least I have a good two and a half weeks to do what I want now. Though I am honestly not looking forward to further exploring Mementos.
I didn't like Tartarus, I have no clue why Atlus thought flipping it downward would somehow be 'better'.

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Explanation, not excuse.
But in this case, I totally agree, Black Mask suuuucked.



Cognitive psience, son.
I found that boss around the same difficulty as Giant Disco Ball from 4. The difference being that I didn't have to grind at all in 5, so I take it as a plus. And Rivers in the Desert is pretty sweet.

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Giant Disco Ball...? Oh, the one after the battle with the Murderer? Took me a bit to recall what boss might look like that... I agree, the Rivers in the Desert was a pretty sweet boss battle theme, though I wonder if it was purposefully supposed to be ironic, given that the Palace is a giant ship in a flooded Tokyo... but it's not one that stuck in my brain. Maybe if I play the game again.



Because Yukari IS a horrible human being. One thing I would've loved to actually happen, is if the party had honestly told the Black Mask, "You know... your plan is dumb. We can just change Daddy-O's heart, and he WILL be the beloved, acknowledging, sweet papa you always wanted. Everything you've been doing for the past two years? FUTILE."

At least then, Black Mask's continued whining can be seen as him realizing that his actions have thrown them into the 'worst person' category, and that he's no better than the people he's killed. As it is, he just comes off as a whiner because "What do youuu have that I dooon't?" Well, friends. "Like I need friends!" (I guess the party is lenient towards Black Mask because, boohoo, daddy didn't love him, and society sucks. Uh, yeah, I think removing this stigma would require more than stealing all of Tokyo's hearts...)

Though I actually had to research, and being an illegitimate child apparently IS still a huuuuge stigma in Japan.
And that, yes, Wakaba's love towards her illegitimate daughter, Futaba, IS supposed to be seen as quite a difference to normal.
One of the few moments where an Atlus game really doesn't make sense to western players.

Though I've read people are annoyed that there's no option to have a gay relationship, or any other than heteronormative romance, because "Isn't the game all about not being the social norm?" Uh, no, the game is about societal reform in terms of not being a doormat to authority figures who do wrong because they are authority figures. It has nothing to do with a person's gender identity or sexual orientation. Confused the hell outta me when I read this. I honestly was wondering if these people were playing the same game as I was.

I'm only coasting until the final boss. I'm gonna do a new playthrough, though I am lacking the Read All Books trophy so far; I was hoping of getting that before I did a new playthrough. Next time, I'm dating Haru. Oh, but Takemi would be neat...

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Heh I think if the party had taken that option with Black Mask they'd be well on their way to the other bad ending.


While I didn't have a complaint with the lack of a gay relationship I did think it was odd they didn't give you multiple gender options yet. Just seems odd. Also as a personal gripe I'd rather they included someone who wasn't stereotypically pretty. Maybe someone who is uglier or bigger as a party member rather than always the perfect pretty party.

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People say Lala Escargot is an amazing, and positive, representation of a transgender or transvestite person. I dunno, I never saw Lala as either. It's not like Lala's sex or gender identity is actually important. It's an NPC. That's it. I can understand being annoyed at the two stereotypical, obnoxious gay guys. But they appear for two scenes. Easy to ignore.

I'm just about to fight the absolute final boss. I was annoyed to learn that, since I did go for the other Bad Ending (and STILL didn't get a trophy for that! Come on, guys! You don't even give me an awesome cinematic image of the Phantom Thieves becoming just as corrupt with their Police State for a bad ending?), I had to redo all the scenes and the revelation about Caroline's and Justine's amnesia and such again. I can see what people mean when they say that the last two 'dungeons' on December 24th are a real letdown.
The aesthetics are not all that interesting and, again, there is too much talking. I started ignoring what was being said and just read, then skipped to the next text. I don't need to be told for the fifth time, "Ohmygod, look! This looks like a prison!" and similar.

Also, I checked off a list AND double-checked: apparently, I HAVE read all 34 books the game gives you. The ones for party member Personae; the Shinjuku ones for doing things; the Jinbocho ones (including Speed Reading); and the date location ones, though I didn't 'read' all of them because I already have the locations unlocked. But they count as read, with the green bookmark. And yet the Bookworm trophy has not unlocked...! I hope it isn't glitched...
Also kept reloading December 13th and caught the guardian... Atlus, if there is another Persona game to appear, DO NOT PUT FISHING INTO IT! It's dumb, it sucks, and it's really dumb. I don't play Persona to go fishing. I don't even fish in farming simulation games... I mean, it wasn't DIFFICULT to get the Guardian, it was just really tedious to do and unnecessary.

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Seriously, fuck fishing. It's not fun at all and stressful as all hell. I still can't believe that I somehow managed to catch the P4G sea guardian on my last piece of bait.

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Wait there was fishing in Persona 5?

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Mh, at Ichigaya. You unlock it via reading a magazine or by agreeing to go with Ryuji on July 3rd.

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Oh man I missed that entirely!

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Which is exactly why some "true fans" are mad that they'll get censored in P5R's translation.
Like, I'm not going to buy P5R because I don't have the time nor patience for a 100+ hour long RPG I've already played, but it's hilarious to me that people are whining over plot-irrelevant homophobic stereotypes being toned down.

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Really hilarious to me that people are just like "I can't believe P5 isn't as homophobic now, let's cancel them guys".

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Hahaha that is a hilarious way to rephrase it

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Hard to believe after the concert last April that I'd be more excited for Scramble than Royal, but here we are. Game looks so fucking good.

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I have a question to Persona fans. Should I play Persona 4? I played through Persona 3 last year and loved it, but I've heard 4 is weaker than 3 and 5. Also, I've been spoiled on who the killer is, so is there any point in playing it when I already know the answer to the mystery? I already own Persona 5, but I don't see any point in playing it as it's the original version and it's outdated now that Royal is out.

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Oh hey! Haven't seen you in a while.
There isn't a general consensus among the Persona fandom for "best game" but I'd say go for it (provided you don't have to go out of your way to get it). 4's biggest strength is it's main party and the chill atmosphere of Inaba, there's a lot more to it than just the murder mystery.

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Honestly, figuring out the culprit in Persona 4 isn't that hard after a certain point, and I find it interesting to watch how they foreshadow it by watching the culprit's actions from the beginning. And as just stated, there's a lot more to hold your interest besides the murder mystery. The character interactions, especially, which I'd say are better than P3 (plus, you aren't forced to date all the girls to complete their social links, which was a really weird thing in P3).

P5R is to P5 Vanilla as P4G is to P4 Vanilla, though I'd say P5R has even more extra content than P4G had. The localization is also just better in the roughest parts of vanilla. So it would be best to play P5R if you haven't played P5 yet.

I loved 4 (or at least Golden, as I've not played the vanilla version). I found it... comfortable. I think that's the word that best describes it. I've never played 3, though judging by the LP of it that I watched, I wouldn't have cared for the more somber atmosphere of that game (to say nothing of the aforementioned necessity of cheating on your character's girlfriend if you want to maximize all the Social Links).

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Wait people said it's weaker than 3? That's not what I've heard. I'd rate it thoroughly between them but yeah it's still worth playing. Go hang out with good ol' Kanji.

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I take it back, the ability to pet Morgana via the touchpad was an important addition that completely justified a rerelease. New social links? Third semester? Who cares, I am petting the car.

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