I don't understand the hype behind this game?

[Chaos]

As someone completely new to series, why are people so crazy about this game? even if i was completely uninterested in the anime characters, as a gamer, what would you suggest would attract me to this game? gameplay features and uniqueness?

[Arifufu]

for me its turn based system, i started this game from OG P4 from PS2, then bought P4G from Steam last year, this game is kinda extension of turn-based system from P4G, there was some missing skills i would like to use and only available in this P5R games (not from upcoming Persona 3 Portable, up to now i decided not to buy P3P unless i want to enjoy the story).

For story i had watched all Persona 3 movies, Persona 4 + Persona 4 Golden animation, including Persona 5 animation, so in conclusion i just want to enjoy turn based system from this game. Not all turn based i like from Atlus tho, i don't like turn based system that offered from Soul Hackers 2. I kinda have mixed feeling with Shin Megami Tensei V too, however only SMT V that allow demons to has voice when they cast skills/spell, this one is missing from PR5 tho, i might consider to buy SMT V if Atlus kind enough to port that game to Steam too.

[RDG]

The turn battle system with deities for pokemons, the story, the music and the management simulator. If none of these appease you, you might want to steer clear.

[Chaos]

Originally posted by RDG:

The turn battle system with deities for pokemons, the story, the music and the management simulator. If none of these appease you, you might want to steer clear.

wdym by management simulator?

[RDG]

Originally posted by Chaos:

Originally posted by RDG:

The turn battle system with deities for pokemons, the story, the music and the management simulator. If none of these appease you, you might want to steer clear.

wdym by management simulator?

You have limited actions you can take per day, and usually every chapter has a deadline to beat a boss before a game over, meanwhile you have relative freedom to work on various things, the most important generally being increasing affection levels with your party members and other set people in town. Doing so unlocks extra abilities that can affect the battle side of the game, plus each of those character is related to an arcana (think of it like a family of pokemons that belong to the same group) and they give bonuses when you fuse personas of that arcana.

I find it quite fun, though I know it is not for everyone.

[Fennel]

Disclaimer: my opinion only.
Not much if you don't like the characters, the tutorial is like 10 hours long, after that you get to do the highschool sim part of the game which is what most people like, because you get to explore the different characters' stories (20 or so).
The combat is fun but it's not the best SMT has to offer (mostly because you can't affect bosses with any status effects and there's no stacking for stat buffs/debuffs, the demon negotiation in this game is also very basic since you can easily know the right answers to recruit demons, on the good side there's no RNG unlike every other SMT). The attacks you can use are extremely varied with about 8 elements, a melee attack and a gun attack; and so are the demons you can summon, also the music is great and fits perfectly with the mood of the game.
Most of the uniqueness is how flashy and stylish it is, but I feel like most of that would be lost on a mature person. The main characters are very childish too, their attitudes in the social part of the game are way better than in main story interactions.
Most of the popularity is word of mouth making people get introduced to RPGs by this game when all they have played before is simple games with no story at all like Mario, Pokemon and Sonic or whatever.

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Fennel:

Disclaimer: my opinion only.
Not much if you don't like the characters, the tutorial is like 10 hours long, after that you get to do the highschool sim part of the game which is what most people like, because you get to explore the different characters' stories (20 or so).
The combat is fun but it's not the best SMT has to offer (mostly because you can't affect bosses with any status effects and there's no stacking for stat buffs/debuffs, the demon negotiation in this game is also very basic since you can easily know the right answers to recruit demons, on the good side there's no RNG unlike every other SMT). The attacks you can use are extremely varied with about 8 elements, a melee attack and a gun attack; and so are the demons you can summon, also the music is great and fits perfectly with the mood of the game.
Most of the uniqueness is how flashy and stylish it is, but I feel like most of that would be lost on a mature person. The main characters are very childish too, their attitudes in the social part of the game are way better than in main story interactions.
Most of the popularity is word of mouth making people get introduced to RPGs by this game when all they have played before is simple games with no story at all like Mario, Pokemon and Sonic or whatever.

as someone who absolutely loved dragon age origins and witcher story, i always found anime (specially high school romances) very bland....if the main point is exploring each character's story, then i can see why i couldn't understand the hype behind this game, I do like turn based combat (XCOM and even south park)

[Fennel]

Originally posted by Chaos:

as someone who absolutely loved dragon age origins and witcher story, i always found anime (specially high school romances) very bland....if the main point is exploring each character's story, then i can see why i couldn't understand the hype behind this game, I do like turn based combat (XCOM and even south park)

The SMT series (persona's father franchise) usually provides deeper stories that I consider on par with western RPG storytelling, they usually have some interesting takes on philosophical stuff and offer different points of views on society, particularly whether the world should be orderly or governed by personal power, most importantly they also share the same quality combat system.

My favorite is SMT: Strange Journey, although it has a very different combat system (no extra actions from attacking weaknesses, instead your whole party attacks when you hit a weakness as longas they share the same alignment, law-neutral-chaos, as you), it's about a group of soldiers and researchers who get lost investigating a sort of black hole in Antartica in an attempt to stop it from growing.

Personally, I think P5 is a fun game anyways, but I do feel the reactions it got were a bit of an overreaction.

[Dailao]

Originally posted by Chaos:

As someone completely new to series, why are people so crazy about this game? even if i was completely uninterested in the anime characters, as a gamer, what would you suggest would attract me to this game? gameplay features and uniqueness?

It's extremely unique, has many fun and captivating story moments, and there is a lot of stuff to do. In my opinion it is also very immersive once you are off the "tutorial rails". I would say that is a lot more than many games offer nowadays. If you have never played a Persona game before, I would recommend it for that reason alone - to experience something in a league of its own.

[FATE]

Originally posted by Fennel:

Disclaimer: my opinion only.
Not much if you don't like the characters, the tutorial is like 10 hours long, after that you get to do the highschool sim part of the game which is what most people like, because you get to explore the different characters' stories (20 or so).
The combat is fun but it's not the best SMT has to offer (mostly because you can't affect bosses with any status effects and there's no stacking for stat buffs/debuffs, the demon negotiation in this game is also very basic since you can easily know the right answers to recruit demons, on the good side there's no RNG unlike every other SMT). The attacks you can use are extremely varied with about 8 elements, a melee attack and a gun attack; and so are the demons you can summon, also the music is great and fits perfectly with the mood of the game.
Most of the uniqueness is how flashy and stylish it is, but I feel like most of that would be lost on a mature person. The main characters are very childish too, their attitudes in the social part of the game are way better than in main story interactions.
Most of the popularity is word of mouth making people get introduced to RPGs by this game when all they have played before is simple games with no story at all like Mario, Pokemon and Sonic or whatever.

thats the problem i have with persona 5 or any japanese game for that matter, they have a very long prologue that explains the plot, that you cant even skip because even if you just skip one or 2 scenes, you wont understand the story whatsoever

[Fennel]

Originally posted by FATE:

thats the problem i have with persona 5 or any japanese game for that matter, they have a very long prologue that explains the plot, that you cant even skip because even if you just skip one or 2 scenes, you wont understand the story whatsoever

To be fair most of my favorite RPGs also have that issue, like DOS:2 with it's 15 hours long intro island or Pathfinder: Kingmaker which IMO doesn't really being until you get to be a baron about 20 hours in if you're reading everything, I wish we could get more games like Planescape: Torment, that game just... begins, you're done with the tutorial within 5 minutes even though it's still a 30+ hour game, and you're constantly learning stuff about the world and yourself.
A lot of the mechanics in P5R are superfluous and pointless, like the "Distorted enemies" mechanic where the enemy blows up when killed, they make you go through a tutorial battle just for it, in a game like Pathfinder: Kingmaker/WotR that'd just be a text line in the enemies' sheet.
Still loving the game though.

[Schiggy]

This game doesnt feel cheap in comparision to other JRPGs.

-All UI Elements have the same unique Artstyle.
-The Music is completly different from other games and really nice.
-The Dialoges arent insane but still way better than those cringey Dialoges from other JRPGs.
-The Fighting has a really nice fast paced design and also the whole UI is again in that same unique Artstyle.
-Its has the fun of Pokemon to collect different monsters and level them up.

This is still a 6y old Playstation 3 game in regards to Dungeon/Level Design but otherwise timeless game.

Also I dont speak for the whole series.
Imo only this Persona is good all others have the same issues as other JRPG games.

[Timedye]

Can't speak for anyone else, but the Persona series filled a hole in my life that was left when Final Fantasy abandoned turn-based combat.

I started playing Persona 2 and 3 shortly after Final Fantasy XII came out, and by the time Persona 4 released I was in love with the franchise. Turn based RPGs were my favorite genre growing up, and the life-sim elements meshed really well with the RPG elements for me, and it does the "gotta catch 'em all" loop a lot better than Pokemon does, in my opinion.

If you're not into those sorts of things, you're never going to be into a Persona game.

[Bio]

1. I love turn based jrpgs

2. I love the stylish anime aesthetic

3. I love the jazzy vocal music

4. I love the "hangin around and goin to japanese high school and chilling with all your different anime friends simulator"

not much to say beyond that, if you like these things you like them and if you don't you don't