Image: Persona 5 Royal
Video games have existed for decades. Since the days of Pong, people have been playing video games as ways of entertainment to give us something to enjoy. It started out with 16-bit and 8-bit games such as Super Mario Bros., the first Legend of Zelda, Pokémon Red and Blue, and Sonic. Games that were nothing remarkable story-wise or graphically, but they were colorful enough and fun enough to keep us busy and make a mark on history. These small games would eventually become the foundation for the future of video games. This would evolve into games with storylines and graphics that match even today’s movie standards. Games like Assassins’ Creed, Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Last of Us have been praised for both of these aspects, especially for their graphics as they are so realistic, they might as well be from a live-action movie. Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal is another beast in itself. The game does not look realistic, but instead looks like a graphic novel turned into an anime with an incredibly crafted story that couldn’t be crafted in any other way. The story it tells ca only be told in the way that this game was created and what we got is an absolute masterpiece.
For a little background, Persona 5 is a Japanese Role-Playing Game/Life Simulator created by Atlus. Persona 5 is a story about a young man who transfers to a school in Tokyo after being falsely accused for a crime he didn’t commit (this is not a spoiler as they spell it out early on in the game). Because of his record, he is chastised and talked about badly by everyone in and outside of school. After a series of events, he rebels against the society that has rejected him and gains the ability to summon demons called Personas. He and his friends (Ryuji, Ann, Morgana, Yuskue, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru) use this power to create a group of rebels called The Phantom Thieves who “Steal Hearts” of rotten adults in order to bring justice to those harmed by said adults. “Stealing Hearts” basically means going into someone’s cognitive mindset called a Palace via a phone application called the Metanav, running around their physical manifestation of their personal views on world around them, and then stealing the physical manifestation of their distorted desires to get rid of their bad ways and ultimately make them confess to their crimes. Its’ a lot, but the game explains it easier than I can. Persona 5 is filled to the brim with a good story supported by well-written characters who are all developed and characterized as if they were real. Even the characters who don’t get as much screen time as they should get more characterization in the updated version of the game, Persona 5 Royal. Each one has their own arc containing their own struggles and their own revelations that help them realize who they truly are.
Image: Persona 5 Royal Box Art
The story and characters are the main things that drive Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal. Each member of The Phantom Thieves has their own struggles that they must face head on in order to awaken their Persona and “the rebel within”. They stand up for themselves against a world that seems to hate them. They all choose to “steal” criminals and bad people of the world’s hearts to get them to either confess their crimes and turn themselves in, or admit that what they did was wrong and truly go down the path of a good person from there on out. It’s all in the name of justice and what’s ultimately right. Thankfully, the villains of this game are horrible enough to make the Thieves and the player want to change their hearts. Not horrible in the sense that they’re badly written characters (because they actually are), but horrible in the sense they are genuinely disgusting people with distorted views and desires who deserve to get down a couple of pegs. Especially the first two villains and the second to last one. But, despite that, there is sympathy for some “villains” of this game. One time the Thieves choose to “steal a heart” is for someone who isn’t bad, but who is blinded by a horrible situation that they never asked for filled with hallucinations, self-hatred, thoughts of suicide, and grief. It’s a part of the story that shows how serious Atlus is willing to go with this plot. They showed hints of it before, but this is where they really dive into the subject and how it can affect someone. Then there’s another “villain” of this game who is also sympathetic, but I’ll get more into that later.
The plot itself moves along at a good pace. There are some parts that are slower than other, but those slow moments take time to develop the characters and the plotline around them. Like I said, this game is half life-simulation. So, a lot of the time, the player is going be creating and strengthening bonds with various characters in the game whose stories progress the more you hang out with them. This helps the game move along well without there being many gaps of doing nothing. The moments where the main plot with the Thieves is the more action centric and dramatic one. There are a lot of twists and turns in this game with the biggest one probably being the biggest revelation in the game. I won’t dive into it much since it’s actually incredibly complicated while also making sense (bravo to Atlus, btw), but it’s basically an extremely elaborate heist that has been planned out for a long time without the player knowing until a particular point. Just, all of it is really well planned out as a whole.
Image: Persona 5 Royal UI Menu
I’ll get back to the characters a little later (because I do want to talk about a few more), so, let’s get into the style of Persona 5. This is BY FAR the most stylish game I have ever had the honor to witness. It’s not Triple A Games level of realistic, but it doesn’t need to be. Like I said before, this game is drawn and designed like an anime. Realistic graphics is the least of its problems. What is has instead are hyper-stylized graphics for its UI (User Interface; the menus, button controls, item bag, etc.) that appeal so well to the eyes. It just looks so smooth. The straight lines matched with the red, black, and white colors just correlate beautifully. Everything in the menu moves too. The background is constantly in movement and there’s a different pose for the main character in each category too. I can show you one screenshot of this game’s menu and that is more than enough to prove how beautiful the 2-D graphics in this game are. And don’t get me started on the All-Out-Attack finishers. They’re these comic book-like images that occur after the player chooses to do a team attack on the enemy. These works of art could work perfectly as desktop backgrounds or posters. They’re incredibly well drawn, fit every character in their own way, and are just downright stylish. I won't lie, I want these on my laptop and on my walls.
Image: Joker's All-Out-Attack Portrait
The music of Persona 5 is also part of its incredible style. The Persona series is well known for its music thanks to Shoji Meguro and his team. Each game has their own flare and genre of music associated with them. For example, Persona 3 had rap/hip-hop music while Persona 4’s was more poppy and energetic. Persona 5 takes on the genre of jazz mixed with some rock and pop. Some songs are smooth and calming such as Beneath the Mask (both lyrical and instrumental) and I Believe and Life Will Change give off this energy that makes you want to jump into action and take on the world with its cool guitar riffs and incredible vocals by the game’s main singer, Lyn. Also, I’m SO GLAD the battle songs are bangers. Persona’s battle music is normally sung by the game’s respective vocalist and Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal is no exception. Both songs, “Last Surprise” and “Take Over” are so well done that I never got bored of them no matter how many times they played. “Take Over” is my personal favorite out of the two since it’s more fast paced, but “Last Surprise” is just as good. The music expertly conveys the emotion behind each scene it takes place in. There wasn’t ever a time where I got sick of the music. I would even have the urge to play a majority of the game’s lyrical soundtrack on repeat because it was just that good. It should be illegal for a game's soundtrack to be this good. I’m sure even people who aren’t big on the Persona games can at least appreciate the music created for it. In case you're not convinced from this paragraph, I'll post one of the tracks here for you to enjoy:
Video: Life Will Change
(I am going to warn you now that there will be some spoilers in this next particular part. So, if you haven’t played the game yet or just don’t want to know the twists in general, go straight to the conclusion of this essay. I highly suggest playing the game in its entirety to experience the emotions and reveals yourself.)
Image: Kasumi's All-Out-Attack
Now back to the characters who add to the substance of this game in great ways to the point where at least 2 of them are my favorite characters in the game. There are 3 key characters to this game outside our main Phantom Thieves: Kasumi Yoshizawa, Goro Akechi, and Takuto Maruki. Let’s start with Kasumi. Kasumi is a transfer student like the protagonist. Instead of coming to their school, Shujin Academy, through bad circumstances, she is there because she is both an Honors Student and a star Gymnastics Athlete. Since Shujin is a highly ranked school, it only makes sense for her to transfer there. However, because of her status, she is both praised and made envious of the students there and rumors both good and bad start to spread. It gets to the point where the pressure is too much for her. Her skills and reputation start to fall, leading to a bout of depression. This leads her to rebel against the people going against her and she gains the power of Persona, though she doesn't join The Phantom Thieves yet. Later on in the game, during the third semester new to the updated version, it is revealed that Kasumi isn’t actually “Kasumi”, but her twin sister, Sumire. She made herself think she was Kasumi because she felt guilty for inadvertently killing her when Kasumi jumped in front of a truck to push Sumire out of the way earlier in the Spring before the events of the game. Out of that guilt, Sumire couldn’t psychologically live as her sister’s killer. This was a twist and a half. The player is told early on that “Kasumi” had a twin sister who passed away, but they’re never given the full story until this particular point. It more or less sheds light on the real problem that is Survivor’s Guilt. Everyone handles it differently when put into that situation. Sumire making herself believe she was her sister in order to get rid of her own identity was not what I could’ve predicted. It’s honestly a heartbreaking story and one that makes you feel even worse for her than before. But, she’s never the villain. In fact, Sumire apologizes to the main character for “lying” to him about who she is. As her arc progresses, she learns to embrace who she truly is and to live on for her sister and their dream. It’s a great and sensible conclusion to her story. It’s woven very well into a story that already existed about 4 years ago. Sumire fits right into The Phantom Thieves as if she was there from the start.
Image: Goro Akechi (left) and the Main Character (right)
Then there’s Akechi. Or, as I like to call him, “Pancake Boy” (thanks, memes)! But, seriously, Akechi is one of the best written characters in the game, mainly thanks to Persona 5 Royal. In the original game, Akechi was a young “Ace Detective” who could solve any crime that was put in front of him. He got so good that he is assigned to the case revolving around The Phantom Thieves and their heists. Akechi basically becomes the rival for the Thieves, particularly the main character. He does whatever he can to catch them in their game of cat and mouse. It’s only until Sae Niijima’s Palace that he decides to make a truce with the Thieves and work alongside them (turns out he has a Persona too) to steal Sae’s distorted desires as he is a Persona-User too. The deal is that if Akechi helps the Thieves, after this heist, the Thieves will end their work for good. Things go smoothly at first. As sketchy as he is, Akechi doesn’t try to betray our heroes. Until he actually does and it’s revealed that he’s been the culprit behind many of the game’s psychotic breakdowns and murders from the start… Yeah, that was a twist. Did not see it coming in when I first played this game. Now that Akechi has become one of the game’s antagonists, The Phantom Thieves have to fight him too. It’s here where the player sees that Akechi, as ruthless as he is, is really just a normal person who’s past and upbringing corrupted him so badly that he became psychotic himself. He ultimately does want what the main characters have: friends, family, a normal life. But, he doesn’t. In one final act, Akechi sacrifices himself to save The Phantom Thieves and redeems himself if only a bit. And that’s it for his story in the original game. I’m not even kidding. I think he’s only mentioned once or twice after this part of the game and that’s a full 10-20+ hours. Poor guy is pretty much snuffed out of the last parts of the original Persona 5. His story was incomplete.
And then Persona 5 Royal swooped in and fixed that problem and more! Persona 5 Royal did SO MUCH for Akechi. His story finally became complete. In the original Persona 5, Akechi’s Confident (the character’s arcs in this game) was automatic. You couldn’t choose to hang out with him because his story was, well, story based. You learned more about him as the main story went on. It was good, but we didn’t learn much about him than the fact that he was a detective trying to solve the case on The Phantom Thieves. Persona 5 Royal changes this and lets you choose when to hang out with Akechi. Now, you learn more about who he is as an actual person, what he likes to do in his free time, hints about his past that wasn’t learned prior, etc. It’s really good characterization that fleshes him out to be more than a detective, but as an actual rival. His redemption is fleshed out even more in the Third Semester where he comes back to help The Phantom Thieves with their current predicament. No deal this time. Just two people with a common goal. This time, Akechi isn’t hiding behind the “Ace Detective” façade anymore. He now showing his true colors to the protagonist and his friends. He’s not entirely evil, but he is borderline insane with a murderous intent that is still under some control. He doesn’t want to kill The Phantom Thieves at least. He still has good intentions, thankfully. Tough crazy, it’s really good to see what the true Akechi is like as we only got a glimpse of it in the original game. This Akechi is cold and calculated, but willing to fight for the good of the world if it means not being under anyone else’s control anymore and getting some redemption on the side. This is helped greatly by his voice actor, Robbie Daymond, who switches from both Kechi’s on a dime. All the voice acting in this game is great, but Daymond is a standout. Hearing Akechi say all these insane things is unnerving, but really fun as it’s not the usual “good guy” dialogue that we normally get. His voice is so much more aggressive and angrier, and it’s honestly good to listen to. But, his ending is what probably hit the player where they live as they’ve grown so attached to this character that saying goodbye is rough.
Image: Dr. Takuto Maruki
This is where Takuto Maruki comes in. Maruki is the reason the Third Semester happens. He’s the reason why Sumire thinks she’s Kasumi and why Akechi is still around; he’s why they’re well developed characters. Dr. Maruki starts off as this school counselor who comes to Shujin after the school feels like their students need therapy after certain events of the game. He offers The Phantom Thieves help as well. At first he comes off as a bit of a awkward klutz, but likable and good looking enough to gain some fans amongst the students and staff. As his arc progresses, we learn how much he genuinely wants to help those in need and how focused he is on the idea of cognitive science, the concept around “Stealing Hearts”. Maruki easily discovers the main character is a Phantom Thief himself, but chooses not to rat him out as he believes in what the main character is doing. Or so we thought.
Once the Third Semester starts, things get weird. All of a sudden, people are getting exactly what they want. Every and any good thing that could happen is happening. It’s total bliss and it’s weird. People’s wishes are being granted on the spot and even people are being brought back from the dead. This is all because of Dr. Maruki. Somehow, he gained the power of Persona before the New Year and this power basically made him a god. His wish is to make sure everyone lives a life of happiness with no consequences or regret. Literally ignorance is bliss. He actually has no ill intentions. He genuinely wants to save people from a life of pain. At first, it’s hard to argue against this. Who wouldn’t want a perfect world? Who wouldn’t want to live a life without consequences? But, how can we learn and live an honest life without pain and suffering to compliment all the good we can experience. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but that’s how life is. We hit rock bottom only to go up from there. It’s how we learn; it’s how we grow and become the people we are. To be honest, I was very conflicted in the best way possible. I was questioning our own intentions to stop Dr. Maruki from creating a paradise. He was never a villain in this game, only an antagonist. An antagonist who had a good point and made me question my morals and actions. Having an antagonist who can not only sympathize with, but understand is the best antagonist you can create.
I love all three of these characters. Each one is as well written as the last. I understand and sympathize with all of them. I think I rank Maruki and Akechi higher is because they’re more complex than Sumire is in the sense that they have antagonistic sides to them while Sumire is a good person all around. That’s not a bad thing by any means, but it does make the other two more interesting. I’m currently in the middle of my second playthrough of Persona 5 Royal, so I’m hoping that I can get more attached to her then. I feel like by playing the game again I can truly understand her and her predicament.
Image: Persona 5
To conclude this long essay (that’s basically a review at this point), Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal is truly a work of art like no other. A well-crafted story with complex and loveable characters makes for a compelling experience. Add that with addicting gameplay and the most stylish UI in the industry and you got yourself 100+ hours of pure entertainment. Personally, this is one of my favorite games of all time. I don’t know if it’s #1, but it’s definitely in my top 3. I first discovered the Persona series from watching Let’s Play/Walkthrough videos of Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden on YouTube. I was interested in the concept, the characters, and the gameplay to the point where I wanted to try it out too. The subtlest, PG-rated way I can describe this series is that it’s “A more mature version of Pokémon”. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but when you watch the gameplay, the pieces start to come into place. Games like those are right up my ally and I decided to try the series out. I played and finished the game throughout the Spring of 2017 and I absolutely loved it. I would stay up past midnight because the game was so addicting. It was only natural that I would play the updated version of the game and love even more. Ironically, this was the perfect game to play during the 2020 pandemic as I had more than enough time to soak in this game. I can’t remember the last time I was this enamored with a game so well created. This is Atlus' passion project. I am excited to see what Atlus has in store for Persona 6 whenever that comes out.
Commenti