Zero Punctuation: Persona 5

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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Casual Shinji said:
Yeah, I quite like the game, but the way it handles time passing and when it does or doesn't allow you to do something is very randomized. Maybe it's a staple for this series (first time player), but it results in me never really getting immersed in the gamewolrd.
It is a staple, more or less. Story events generally kick the timeline along, and if it's your first time playing you won't always be able to predict when they'll come and screw up your planning.
 

Igor-Rowan

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I remember playing Final Fantasy XV last year and being somewhat impressed by it, but for every game that's released, the game becomes worse in my memory, Dishonored 2 had an interesting campaign, Zelda and Horizon had better open worlds, Nier was interesting and deep, and now Persona 5 is out and I fear I might do the Witcher III effect and spoil me forever on that particular genre.
 

Kaimax

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Casual Shinji said:
Yeah, I quite like the game, but the way it handles time passing and when it does or doesn't allow you to do something is very randomized. Maybe it's a staple for this series (first time player), but it results in me never really getting immersed in the gamewolrd.
Yeah, like others have said it's not random, but it's more that "you don't know if the next day is a story event or a Normal day" since you're a first comer to the series.

Everything in Persona 5 is fixed to a schedule, days where Confidants are available, Story events and Mission Deadlines.

Fulbert said:
And then there's this bloody cat that keeps making you go to bed early and waste evening after evening that could be spent developing skills, shopping for supplies, or hanging out with your friends. I don't remember previous games being so hand-holdy.
That's because there's no cat to remind you constantly. It's always like this in Persona, If After School is a atory event chances are you're not going to do anything at night. That part where you think that you "can actually do something" is just the game being generous to let you save your progress and give you a chance to fertilize your plant.

Past Persona just skips you right ahead to the next day.
 

Casual Shinji

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RaikuFA said:
Casual Shinji said:
Yeah, I quite like the game, but the way it handles time passing and when it does or doesn't allow you to do something is very randomized. Maybe it's a staple for this series (first time player), but it results in me never really getting immersed in the gamewolrd.
It's not randomized. I thought it was at first when I played P3FES back in 2008.
Well, I haven't found any rhythm in it yet that the game doesn't decide to break whenever it feels like it. At first I thought I'd only ever be too tired to do anything else if I've been to the otherworld, but then that can also be the case after certain story segments that take place in the real world. Sometimes it'll allow me to read on the subway and then sometimes it simply won't. Sometimes you'll get a little moment where you're called upon in class to answer a question, though usually the game just skips to 'after school'.

Speaking of which, the time of day notification feels pretty superfluous, since the only time you're ever really allowed to choose what you want to do is during 'after school' and 'evening'. And even then only if you haven't been to the otherworld. The game makes a big deal telling you you need to be aware of the time you have and to manage it well, but 60% is auto-managed by the game, leaving at best 40% to you. Not only does the game feel like it's on rails, it feels like it's on a timer.

There's a ton of activities for you to do, but I hardly remember them at all since there's so little time each day to do anything. You're pretty much allowed one activity per day, meaning I'm not going to waste that on going to the batting cages.

I really like the game, but I like it inspite of it feeling like I'm constantly strapped in a kiddie harnes and being dragged around by a fussy parent.
 

RedDeadFred

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May 13, 2009
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bjj hero said:
I can think of nothing worse. Everything I hear about Persona makes me less and less interested. Highschool jrpg sounds awful.
Same. I watched a friend play quite a bit of this game, including the final boss (which came across as kind of disappointing with a really overdone motivation). I will say, a lot of the cringy dialog does remind me of high school (minus the sensual anime gasps of course), but that's not exactly a positive in my book. Some of it could just be translation though.

Still, everyone seems to love this game, so I can't help feel like I'm missing something. The combat seems good and I do like turn-based RPGs, so there's that.
 

CrazyGirl17

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Sep 11, 2009
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Huh. Was not expecting Yahtzee to play this game, let alone like it. And every time he mentions "Scooby Gang" I can't help but picture the characters in a Scooby-Doo style. Anyone else?
 

RJ 17

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"Godzilla-senpai noticed me!"

Best ZP in a while purely for that line. :^)
 

Kaimax

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Casual Shinji said:
Sometimes it'll allow me to read on the subway and then sometimes it simply won't. Sometimes you'll get a little moment where you're called upon in class to answer a question, though usually the game just skips to 'after school'.
But all of those are not random, they're fixed to the schedule of that date they're on. No matter how much you reload a save file, those small social stat events won't change. For example at 4/20 you will always be able to find a seat on the subway train.

Morning till Afternoons are fixed nothing can be changed about them. Since Persona 3, this is always the same thing, like yathzee said in the video, you basically have 2 different timeslots to do one activity each.
But there are always other activities that doesn't consume time even though they raise your Social stat, like fertilizing your plant (every 15 days?), drink juice (once a week), Watch the quiz channel (time to watch is fixed) etc.

Nothing in the schedule is random, you just simply don't know what will happen tomorrow. That's why people advise to save-load and rotate your save file if you're playing blind without a guide.

Just an FYI, It's possible to max your social stats and max Confidant Rank in one playthrough with a month to spare.
 

Orga777

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RaikuFA said:
Here in NJ, we have no rock stations so we can't hear it. All that's out here is rap, Top 40 and oldies that thinks The BeeGees were the greatest thing ever.
Wait. Where in NJ are you? If you are near Philadelphia, you get 102.9 MGK which is a Classic Rock station. We also have 98.1 WOGL which is also a Greatest Hits station from 60s-80s only. 101.5 also plays mostly classic rock songs on weekends (they are a talk radio station during the week.) Personally, MGK is the way to go since their variety is usually better and has less commercials than 98.1. But those are the few I can think of off the top of my head. So, yeah, there are some Classic Rock stations that will get you your fix. lol. And while I don't know about North Jersey, you would be near New York. You GOTTA have Classic Rock stations from there. It is impossible for you not to have them. XD

ANYWAY, Yahtzee likes Persona 5. I am both happy beyond belief because the game is just amazing on pretty much every level, and shocked because Yahtzee usually isn't into JRPGs like this one. This just goes to show that this game is just that good that even the harshest critics can like it. XD
 

Elvis Starburst

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I'm still playing this game, so I'm concerned if this video talks about spoilers or plot stuff I haven't encountered. I'm only halfway through the 3rd dungeon. Any of the folk here who have watched it wanna lemme know if I should watch the video and still remain 100% spoiler free? Had this same problem with Xenoblade Chronicles X, but I ended up never touching that game again and watched the video not too long ago
 

Orga777

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Elvis Starburst said:
I'm still playing this game, so I'm concerned if this video talks about spoilers or plot stuff I haven't encountered. I'm only halfway through the 3rd dungeon. Any of the folk here who have watched it wanna lemme know if I should watch the video and still remain 100% spoiler free? Had this same problem with Xenoblade Chronicles X, but I ended up never touching that game again and watched the video not too long ago
No real spoilers at all here. You are good to go to watch it. :)
 

gyrobot_v1legacy

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Guilion said:
I can't help but think that Yahtzee would've been much harsher on this game if it wasn't because he played endless hours of MA:E not so long ago.
Leave that to Kris Lingman who was one of the few critics to get into a hissy fit about how problematic the game is.
 

RaikuFA

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Orga777 said:
RaikuFA said:
Here in NJ, we have no rock stations so we can't hear it. All that's out here is rap, Top 40 and oldies that thinks The BeeGees were the greatest thing ever.
Wait. Where in NJ are you? If you are near Philadelphia, you get 102.9 MGK which is a Classic Rock station. We also have 98.1 WOGL which is also a Greatest Hits station from 60s-80s only. 101.5 also plays mostly classic rock songs on weekends (they are a talk radio station during the week.) Personally, MGK is the way to go since their variety is usually better and has less commercials than 98.1. But those are the few I can think of off the top of my head. So, yeah, there are some Classic Rock stations that will get you your fix. lol. And while I don't know about North Jersey, you would be near New York. You GOTTA have Classic Rock stations from there. It is impossible for you not to have them. XD

ANYWAY, Yahtzee likes Persona 5. I am both happy beyond belief because the game is just amazing on pretty much every level, and shocked because Yahtzee usually isn't into JRPGs like this one. This just goes to show that this game is just that good that even the harshest critics can like it. XD
I live in central Jersey. I just want a new K-ROCK. A station where it plays Sabbath, Queen and whatever is newer.
 

gorfias

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The comparison to Mass Effect was particularly amusing. I'm actually trying to get through 3 but it is early on and I'm stuck in a night club without any idea how to get out of there.

I just got Persona 4 for Vita. Not really into it yet.
 

The Great JT

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I too am enjoying Persona 5. Pity it takes so long to get the one party member that's unrepentantly awesome (Makoto). It took practically no time to get one of those in Persona 4, considering you get Chie partway into the first actual dungeon.
 

medv4380

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Did I jump realities again? Did Yatchee just give a good review to a JRPG? Did he just like it? Zelda was the First sign of the Apocalypse, and Persona 5 is the second, what next? It doesn't help that Syria and North Korea seem to be pushing non-gaming news in that direction either. Where is Chicken Little when you need him?
 

Dalisclock

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Johnny Novgorod said:
What do you know, he likes it. Is that a first for a JRPG?
He liked Earthbound, if that's worth anything.

As an aside(and maybe this needs a different thread) but do the Japanese have an obsession with High School dramas or something? I have somewhat a passing familarity with Anime but there seem to be a lot of High School centered Animes, and the ones that aren't usually have AUs that are.

I'll probably play a Persona game someday, but that's one of the bits that keeps pushing that day off into the future.
 

RaikuFA

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Dalisclock said:
Johnny Novgorod said:
What do you know, he likes it. Is that a first for a JRPG?
He liked Earthbound, if that's worth anything.

As an aside(and maybe this needs a different thread) but do the Japanese have an obsession with High School dramas or something? I have somewhat a passing familarity with Anime but there seem to be a lot of High School centered Animes, and the ones that aren't usually have AUs that are.

I'll probably play a Persona game someday, but that's one of the bits that keeps pushing that day off into the future.
From what I've heard, Japan has an issue with hikkikomori(shut in's, think Futaba from this game) and is using high school settings with a strong emphasis on friendship to try and prevent more hikkikomori.
 

Darth_Payn

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What madness is this? Yahtzee, liking a JRPG?! Have the seas run red with blood already?
Oh, wait, he kinda liked Nier. But not that one with the blindfolded androids.