My Thoughts On Persona Games 3–5 (Part 1-’Persona 5 & Introduction’)
Until now, the vast majority of my blogs have been list based. I have really enjoyed writing these, but I thought I would change it up a little bit for the next three blogs.
I would like to talk about a franchise I discovered almost a year ago, which is the Persona franchise, or more precisely, Persona 3 to 5. I spoke about the fifth entry and a bit of its soundtrack in my first blog. This is how I opened the entry to save me from repeating myself:
I hadn’t heard of the Persona franchise until last year, which surprised me as those games are basically playable animes and the weeaboo trash residing within me, somehow completely missed them. I imagine this was the case for a lot of other people as well, when reviews, trailers and Lets Plays started to infest the very souls of intrigued individuals such as myself. I can remember buying it, thinking I may not like it because one famous online reviewer said that you would have to manage a social life with friends, using a diary to remember everything. This greatly concerned me because I find it difficult organising my actual life. I thought it would be a tedious exercise in what seemed to be a good game JRPG. — Daniel Mayfair, 2018
(You can read the full blog here if you so wish).
It was not as tedious as had been led to believe. I then go onto say how I actually prefer the life-simulator aspect of it more than the actual RPG element. The more I played it, the more I got invested in its characters. Their problems became my problems. Put aside all the RPG elements for a moment, but I found it an incredibly authentic experience. I was hooked and wanted to find out how the series had developed.
I could not find copies of Personas 1 and 2 to play, so I had to carry on with 3 and then 4. I was not too bothered by this, as most of the discussions I could find online were from entries 3–5 anyway.
So this is how the next three blogs are going to unfold. I am going to talk about each of the three games that I have played in the order I played them, which is 5, 3, 4. I will talk about what I liked, and what I didn’t like about each entry that helped me form my opinions about each game. I will talk about the music of each of these titles as well, as their soundtracks are all amazing and play good roles in the story and setting as well. I won’t talk much about each and every character, but only a select few to illustrate one's points.
I feel I should mention that as this blog talks about three different games in extensive detail, there will be plenty of SPOILERS, so if you wish to experience any of these titles with as little knowledge as possible, best save this blog to read for a different day. Consider this your warning folks!
I knew I was going to enjoy this game the very moment the opening titles rolled with all that pop art inspired artwork and the first thing you hear is the main theme, titled ‘Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There’. This track, as well as most of its soundtrack, is effectively Acid Jazz. Given that this may well be the most accessible Persona game to date, this musical direction is incredibly bold and brave, as Acid Jazz is not always the easiest form of Jazz to easy to listen to. A form of Jazz that is easier to listen to is Swing, An example of a game that is Swing based is ‘Cuphead’, (composed by Kristofer Maddigan) which got a great deal of praise and yet.
Anyway, back to Persona 5!
To further my point about it being an Acid Jazz soundtrack and as to why it was a brave stylistic choice, I shall dump some music theory on you to soak up. The opening track, ‘Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There’ has a clear G Dorian sound (The use of the C chord gives this away as opposed to C minor). The intro then immediately going to G major for the verse (who does that?!). I believe the chord progression here is GM7, Gm7, GM13(?) and GmM7*. This repeats before the brilliant use of a D half-diminished chord on the words ‘it’s useless’ which is fantastic word painting I think. It’s not quite the four chord progression that we all loathe and love of modern pop songs is it? If you don’t know what I mean, watch this short video by Rick Beato to get a better understanding of these four chords.
*m=minor, M=Major
The point I am attempting to make here is that these folks at ATLUS and their in-house composer, Shoji Meguro, had a very clear vision of the world and sound they wanted. You do not compose an Acid Jazz soundtrack by happenstance, or for the shits and giggles. For a track as polished and deliberate as this, I knew the game was going to be great as they clearly cared for the music, so they must care for the game just as deeply and therefore, would be a fantastic overall project.
I knew the overall plot before I bought the game. A group of kids with magical powers become vigilantes and attempt to change the hearts of wicked adults. Given that how it’s opening cutscene blossomed like an anime, I was expecting it to be relatively safe in its approach to telling its story. I was wrong as its opening cinematic is quite dark really if only implied. You are branded a criminal, and everyone hates your guts. It is not like traditional animes that feature high school kids where everyone just loves the protagonist. You are an outcast for things you cannot control, that are not your fault. This changes throughout the game from being hated, to being put up with which I think is a realistic progression for the academic year that the game takes place. You soon begin to make friends with a bunch of outcasts as well, who form your party.
When the ‘main game’ elements are introduced (The RPG battles) I will admit that this took FAR too long. I knew I was sitting through a long tutorial, but I came very close to packing it in because I did not like how the game was constantly holding my hand. I can understand ATLUS not wanting to overload the player with all of its mechanics…but there is not actually a lot to think about, especially when everything is on the screen a good 90% of the time (might I add here that the menu an UI design is just fantastic! Almost sexy…).
Whilst I am on the topic of hand-holding, I have to talk about Morgana, who I hated minutes after he was introduced. The arrogant furball whose purpose is to patronise the player, deciding when they should progress with the story by telling the player they should go to bed. Who thought that was a good idea? Seriously, who actually likes to be told to go to bed? If character came up with a speech bubble saying that he was tired, sure that would still be annoying, but that would make sense surely? How does a demonic cat know how and when you get tired? As I would soon discover with Persona 3 and 4, you could always do what you want, when you wanted (in most cases) and in the case of Persona 3, becoming tired the following day would be a game feature. In Persona 5, if anything mildly plot related happens, off to bed you go! I do not like it that he constantly breathes down the back of your neck telling you to anything and everything the game hints at you. It really isn’t needed, and this is coming from someone who at that point, never played a life simulator game before or a Persona game before. Yes, Morgana has good moments…all of them happen right at the end which is a shame. He is similar to Teddy of Persona 4, with similar roles and are both incredibly annoying. Teddy, however, is not an ass and despite his quirks, is quite an enjoyable and interesting character who, unlike Morgana, does not deserve to be punted off the tallest tower. It’s a shame really, as I have always been a cat person you see and hate to talk about a feline this way. I am not a violent person by any means, but as someone who (at this point) new to the Persona franchise, I clearly did not need to be told constantly how to do things and you can see how frustrating it made me. I don’t think it can be solely down to me being used to how RPGs work either, I thought it was quite obvious how the game wanted me to play it. The occasional UI pop up that it uses to reinforce that was fine I thought.
And don’t get me started on how Morgana behaves when Haru (a late party member) is introduced. This whole section of the game is by far the weakest point of the game. I find it very strange that with the amount of explaining and hand-holding Persona 5 does, it fails to explain why Haru only half-activated her Persona. To me, that was a particularly lazy move on ATLUS’ behalf. That said, I will say that I found Haru’s social link very engaging as I have a huge distaste for upper-class men and it broke my heart when I dumped her in the friend zone as it was very obvious that she had feelings for my character.
As the game and story progress, more of the world is opened up to and I loved roaming around Shibuya (which is not pronounced how the English translation pronounces it) and Akihabara, both of which felt very natural and authentic to explore. I later discovered that they are both real place in Tokyo, Japan! There are a couple of videos online that compares Persona 5’s version to the real version that caused me to drop my jaw with awe as the attention to detail (art style considered) was amazing. This and the fact I was beginning to treat this game like an interactive anime, feed the inner weeaboo within me. Exploring the depths of Mementos was pretty cool as well. The further into its depths you dived, the more sinister it looked. I loved the bits of dialogue the characters would exchange whilst on the road.
I really enjoyed the day-to-day activities of exploring these real locations in Tokyo and seeing what I could do. I enjoyed playing the arcade machines, I enjoyed going fishing (something I occasionally do in real life) and most of all, I really enjoyed meeting up with the confidants/social links and do my best to help them. However, it got far too much. Towards the end of the game, I got very annoyed that I seemed to be the centre of everyone’s world. No one could solve their own problems without me holding their hands.
As a fan of random factoids and trivia, I appreciated being tested on general knowledge in class and the funky music that would accompany you as did your best to pass each exam or did what I did and had a cheat sheet nearby and coast every one. I will make a slight complaint here as I did not like how the audio of the exam sections was implemented. Given the exam period would last a few days and that was the only thing that could happen on those days, there was really no need for the music to fade into nothing constantly. The music should have carried on playing in my opinion, and I am not just saying that because I love the cue. On the topic of audio implementation, I loved the differences between the versions of ‘Beneath the Mask’ when it is raining and when it isn’t as well as including instrumental versions of the two versions as well. They provided nice laid back moments when the evening would come and I could be left alone to study in Cafe Leblanc.
Some of the choices of character design did confuse me, most notably Ann. Her story is strongest at the beginning of the game when she confronts Kamoshida, the school’s PE teacher who has been physically and sexually abusing many of the students, including Ann and her friend, Shiho who attempts to kill herself right at the beginning of the game after it is heavily implied Kamoshida raped her (I told you it did not have a happy start). ATLUS do a very good job of making her be a strong individual who is more than a blonde, pretty face…before immediately making her just a blonde, pretty face who doesn’t really contribute to much of the plot thereafter, which is such a shame. Also, as seductive as her outfit is, it is rather odd, given that is not she wants to view herself.
Yusuke was another character who really didn’t have much input with the overall actions of the Phantom Thieves, but was just another voice. That said, I did think it was one of the most compelling ones in the game. You could argue here that in every friend circle, that there are some members who are more active and bold than others so that is perhaps a small, picky complaint. Ryuji is allocated the role of group clown and his personality isn’t developed much after that. Granted, he is not the smartest character in the world but he is one of most heroic out of the lot, most notably as Shido’s Palace begins to sink. They turned the very end of that into a typical goofy anime moment which really annoyed me. It was also an opportunity to develop Ann’s character a bit more, as it was hinted that she may well have had feelings for him. But of course, ATLUS can’t/won’t set any relationship in stone in case you are in a relationship with Ann. Perhaps they will fix that in the anime?
I feel I should talk about my thoughts about this version of Igor, the current ruler of The Velvet Room, who caused quite the stir in the Persona community. Just before I picked up the game, I was told that his original voice actor, Dan Woren, had passed away (which isn’t true by the way) so it did not bother me when I heard this sinister voice, for I had no point of reference. Given how Igor looked quite sinister, I initially thought it suited him well. As I was new to the franchise, I did not immediately see that something was up with Igor. When the real Igor returned and heard what he was supposed to sound like, compared to what he originally sounded like when I played Persona 3, I will admit that I found it a little off-putting, to begin with. That changed as I heard more of Igor proper and realised that his voice and style of writing was far more fitting to the character than the wicked one presented in Persona 5. I can also understand how those who were fans of Persona immediately clocked that this was not the real Igor. I also think it is a bit unusual that the protagonist is the only one in Persona 3–5 who is given a power beyond the Persona Wildcard (I am referring to that vision power he gets early in the game). If the protagonists in Persona 1 and 2 have some special power, I do not know.
I really liked the concept of The Velvet Room, how it reflects the heart of the visitor. I also loved how dark the Person fusions were in Persona 5, how they took forms of executions or horrific tortures (nothing terribly graphic though might I add, but still rather disturbing). To me, its design did not need explaining, but then again, ATLUS felt the need to make everything really obvious to the player in this entry.
I will also be honest, but I did not originally like the theme of The Velvet Room, a piece of music that goes by many names ‘The Poem of Everyone’s Soul’, ‘Hymn of The Soul’ and (my personal favourite name) ‘Aria of The Soul’, but it eventually grew on me by means of attrition. This cue is very different from all the other cues across the game as this is a Classical piece in a modern game with kids whose adventures are accompanied by Acid Jazz. The change of musical language does a great job of making the player feel that they are entering another world. Once I realised that it was a piece of music that has appeared and developed in most, if not all of the games, it completely won me over. I liked that level of consistency.
I absolutely loved playing this game and shed a tear or two once I finished it, which may surprise you as it may seem I have done very little praise for this game. The issues I have pulled up on are small things in an 80-hour game that I loved to bits. The story was great and I loved its twists and turns that made it all the more engaging and exciting…even though I did manage to guess a good chunk of them correctly, which were the ones revolving around Akechi who to me was obviously the culprit behind the psychotic breakdowns. He was another troubled, and interesting character and I loved his development as well as his powers rivalling the protagonist. That said, I do not encourage the path he took as that is incredibly illegal and I can sort of understand how someone can snap the way he can, but it does not make it ok.
As of yet, there are no upcoming DLCs for Persona 5 that expands upon the story and I hope it remains that way. If one does come along, I will write a separate blog on my thoughts on that, as well as any new music that is introduced.
Whilst you wait for the next blog on Persona 3, here are some of my favourite cues from Persona 5 that haven’t been included in this entry already, in no particular order, for you to listen to as you read the next entry on this list. While you’re at, you may want to go and get some pancakes…
What is your favourite piece of music from the soundtrack? Was this your first Persona game? If so, what did you make of it?
Let’s start a conversation, people!
