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[Feel Like I'm On 42]

I reviewed the game for French website Sega-Mag. It is definitely a strong entry, with the same level quality/polish that we saw in P5R.

Having played P3 P4 and P5, I still find the dungeons section really poor and repetitive (and enemy design is really poor in this game), and I am quite sure that people play these games because they enjoy the social parts first and foremost. It has this comfy feeling, after a day of work or whatever, of going back into an immersive world with people you get to know after tenths of hours of playing.

However, the dungeons and battles are frankly super boring en repetitive, and the issue is that it tends to drag. You can't cut spells or the all out assault. I have listened hundreds of times the same first minute of the battle theme song, and I had to turn down the volume to avoid getting crazy. P3 still is much more bearable than P5 as far as dungeons are concerned. P5 was constantly interrupting you with explanations and shit and every little thing took ages... Here at least you get your hundreds of randomized levels and you don't have too much interruption along the way.

Persona games are highly casual games, targeting an audience that has little experience in RPGs and they never want to lose the player. You are constantly being reminding what you should do etc... Good for casuals, but as an experienced RPG player, it has become difficult having to endure the super slow pacing and constant hand-holding. Interesting bits are way too far apart. And I tried Difficult mode (rather than Normal) but did not see any changes in weaknesses. Enemies simply hit harder and had more life, which led to battles dragging even more.

Might sound negative, but as stated, this will be enjoyable for more casual play and its social aspects and still gave it a very strong score.

Nailed it. The combat has some real flaws. Not being able to skip all out attacks sucks. Also agree about the hand holding. For $70 I would've hoped they would do more to justify it with this remake. It seems barebones.

Btw, as a reviewer what are your thoughts on challenge (or rather lack there of) in recent games from Japanese devs? Is it me or is there a trend where they're all making their games incredibly easy and hand holdy? There's long been a certain philosophy that easier=more fun and more sales. I disagree and think a balanced approach to challenge is more fun, but I can see why a dev would disagree when trying to get sales from the casual market.

Like recently Marip RPG and Like a Dragon yakuza 7 were stupidly easy. Did you review Infinite Wealth? If so is that as easy as Yakuza 7 was?

 

[cireza]

Btw, as a reviewer what are your thoughts on challenge (or rather lack there of) in recent games from Japanese devs?

I did not review Infinite Wealth, another member of the site did it and gave it a perfect score, which I think is the first time ever we put a perfect score to a new game (outside of oldies reviews). It does look like Infinite Wealth has more to offer than P3R honestly, it looks more fun. I have never been a fan of Yakuza myself (that BTA gameplay and the balancing were really not good enough for me), but I have to say I feel like I should give it a try. But I don't really have 80 hours available in front of me...

My personal experience is that big AAA games from Japan suffer the same issue as in other places of the world, they are targeting a very wide audience which is perfectly understandable. The experiences are streamlined in order to not lose the player in the process, and the fact that these games are considered so good and played by so many is the reflect of what people want. This is comfort food. FF XV was pretty good for a very big game I think, it was very open so you could get to difficult places if you felt like it.

From Atlus a game like Shin Megami Tensei V was much more interesting if you are looking for a challenge and having more interesting options, even if it is much more forgiving than past games from the series. Hopefully it gets released on a platform that can actually display Unreal Engine games at more than 360p and 20fps.

Otherwise I'd strongly recommend looking at smaller games. In recent years, I enjoyed a ton Shiren 5+ and Brigandine. Respectful of your time, very challenging in a good way, lots of possibilities. Much more interesting games than any AAA JRPG released in recent years. 3DS has Strange Journey, Radiant Historia and 7th Dragon, all much more interesting and filled with interesting challenges and choices. Recently I was playing Star Ocean 2 on Switch, I really like the quality of the port (not on a technical aspect of course, the Switch struggles at displaying trees and shadows... but the art-style is great), the game gives a lot of liberty and interesting choices, and I think has some good difficulty options.

 

[amigastar]

??
Persona 5 , Persona 4 were available on game pass just some months before.

Really, somehow i missed that.

 

[Draugoth]

 

[killatopak]

Dang it. Atlus fucked up my region.

They mixed up physical release here and there’s a chance I might get a different language version from English. The solution? Take a pic of your physical release and they’ll supply you with a digital version.

I mean it’s cool I get two copies for the price of one but I think getting the copy I want would have been better.

 

[adamsapple]

edit: Thought this was the OT, my bad.

 

[Ferdimage]

*No spoilers please*

Can I ask how much more is left after the Kyoto trip, I've clocked just under 130 hours , feeling pretty OP with my Persona's and I'm feeling burnt out.

Edit: I think I'll post in the OT

 

[Grildon Tundy]

I bought Game Pass this month ostensibly to play Hellblade 2, but it was so boring I stopped and switched over to Persona 3 Reload.

I'd played Persona 4 and 5 before, but not this one. It's awesome! It's like getting to play Persona 6 for me, if that makes sense.

They did a good job on the remake. Thought it might be a PS2 upscale job that I might as well could have played on a emulator, but it really looks quite nice!