Persona 5 is a pretty good game with a HUGE Ann Takamaki Problem

[Arcanum]

Originally Posted by Kyanbu The Legend

How long was your total run time for the main game?

About 110 hours. There were some times where I left the game on for a while without doing anything (if I had to guess I would say a total of maybe 5 hours of "empty" time), but also at other times I was skipping through dialogue after reading it and not waiting to hear the voice lines (this was mostly closer to the end of the game when I was starting to feel burned out because I don't normally play games that take over 100 hours to finish a single playthrough).

[Kyanbu The Legend]

I see, P5 has a very nice long length to it.

---------- Post added at 02:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

I promised myself I wasn't going to continue the conversation with Arcanum and Ryong on social justice issues because I think we've circled the wagons enough on that and there's really nothing more we can say to each other to change our perspectives.

However, I will take issue with one aspect of this comment: Having recently finished the game, it strikes me that Persona 5 is thematically much more a criticism and repudiation of western Old Testament style Judeo-Christian morality than dealing with innately Japanese history or mythology like Persona 4 did. Hell, the final boss is basically a renamed stand-in for Yahweh. Strikingly, it deals a lot more with conceptualizations of sin and guilt that are more 'western' in origin than 'Japanese' (though there's obviously more than a bit of traditional Japanese customs and traditions mixed in as well, given the setting.) The palaces of repugnant assholes like Kamoshida and Madarame drive the populace into the embrace of the Judeo-Christian guilt-based apathy of Mementos, wherein humanity deserves to be 'punished' for its 'sins', and the Phantom Thieves fight against both those extremes.

Honestly, had Persona 5 stuck to its guns on the repudiation of Old Testament style Judeo-Christian morality but simply given its supporting characters agency I probably would've loved it even as it explored and dissected all kinds of social taboos. Like, certain aspects of Persona 5 that seem weird at first glance like the adult / high schooler relationships actually start to make a twisted sort of sense when you reach a point where you understand what the game's thesis is and what it's trying to say about breaking free from repressive social norms. It's just that the message only really remains coherent so long as all the characters breaking away from the norms are still written believably as self-interested and three-dimensional human beings. Kawakami and the Protag can totally have a weird thing goin' on so long as Kawakami feels like a fully realized person (who'd presumably then be attracted to the Protagonist for legitimate reasons) and not just a collection of sexist wish-fulfillment tropes.

...Dammit, I told myself I wasn't going to get into social justice stuff in explaining Persona 5's theme and I went there anyway because it's hard to describe my perspective without its inclusion.

I see, that clears up a few question I had regarding the game.

[Solid Snake]

No matter what your opinions are of Persona 5, I think we can all agree that this desperately needs to be included in future versions of the game.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Agreed, even if it's an end credits bit that needs to happen.

[Gregness]

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

No matter what your opinions are of Persona 5, I think we can all agree that this desperately needs to be included in future versions of the game.

I feel like there's some context I'm desperately missing in order to appreciate this.

[Solid Snake]

This reviewer articulates a lot of my thoughts on Persona 5 better than I can, and it's worth reading even though many of you will disagree with its conclusions.

As for the video, Gregness, it's just the vicarious thrill of seeing several characters you grow to love gettin' their grooves on