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Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 was my favorite game of 2017 (although technically we finished it in early January 2018), and I'd always meant to run through again on New Game Plus, maybe to try another romance and get all of the confidants to the top friendship levels, but I never got around to it, and then I put the idea on hold because I heard that Atlus would be rereleasing the game with extra content, as Persona 5 Royal (apparently this is typical of Persona games)?
We finished it last night, and I am satisfied! Not quite as amazing and revelatory as we found Persona 5, but that's a pretty high bar. The new content made a great addition to the story, and I was pleased at the way new characters and situations were interwoven through the entire game, not just dropped in like a standalone DLC. I don't love all the changes that were made, but if I ever decide to play it yet again, I'll definitely play Royal, not the original.
Okay, the rest is all spoilers, for both games, so let's have a cut. There are two new characters, Kasumi and Maruki, and the protagonist's interactions with Akechi are also significantly different -- he's now an optional confidant whom you have to choose to meet and get to know, rather than a confidant like Sae or Morgana who automatically advances levels with the story. I thought it added depth to his character, and also did a better job of laying the seeds of his true nature than the original game. The frenemy relationship with the protagonist is also better developed; I once commented to T, and he agreed, that it almost felt like stronger groundwork for an eventual romance than any of the relationships with the female companions. (But I think pretty much all of the potential romances are underwritten, creepy considering that the protagonist is a high-school student, or both -- so that's not a high bar.) One of the things I found most unsatisfying about Persona 5 is how Akechi basically disappeared from the story after you fight him in Shido's palace; Royal fixes that problem beautifully, by bringing him back for the new final act in a way that worked much better for me.
Maruki was also a good addition to the game. I liked that he was a very different sort of villain from the others -- more of a well-intentioned extremist. Who can't sympathize with his dream of a world free from pain and suffering, misguided as his methods might be? The perfect worlds that he gave each of the Phantom Thieves suited each of them perfectly (with one sort-of exception that I'll get into below); for each of them to give up those dreams to rejoin the team and take down Maruki required true, difficult sacrifices. It's good storytelling and an excellent use of those characters. It was also just plain fun to watch the protagonist figure out what was going on on New Year's Day, especially the whole thing with human Morgana. That little twist blindsided me completely, and I loved it.
And then... there's Kasumi. Or should I say Sumire? First off, I have one big-ass nitpick: I don't buy it. Why is Sumire's dream to become Kasumi, rather than to be with Kasumi in a world where her sister still alive? If Futaba, Haru, and Makoto can all have a parent back from the dead in Maruki's cognitive world, I refuse to accept that the original Kasumi couldn't also have returned. Granted, the original shift in Sumire's cognition happened before Maruki had access to his full powers, but once he could create such massive changes in the world, why not take advantage of that?
Anyway, that aside, her true identity was a pretty effective and gobsmacking reveal. Maybe I should have noticed that no one else in the school ever called her by name -- it was always "that honor student" or "that first-year student" -- but maybe it just feels normal on when everyone is also dancing around the name of the protagonist in conversation. It did throw us for a loop, however, because we had decided not too much beforehand that we would pursue her as our romance option this time through, in the hopes that her romance might tie better into the new parts of the story. So we'd been expecting to have a romance with Kasumi... and suddenly she's not really who we thought she was. Since all the other options were closed to us at that point, we followed through, but I'm not convinced it was worth it, especially since (like most of the other romances, as far as I can tell) her romance plot was not particularly well-integrated with the story, and the final ending cut scene was especially unsatisfying in that regard.
That's actually my biggest quibble here, the change to the ending. I was not very satisfied with the original ending. It's just not well-enough explained in the world of the story why the protagonist has to leave Tokyo and go back to his old life -- a life which, by all appearances, he doesn't even seem to miss (there is not a single mention of friends or family over the course of the entire year; he barely even brings up his parents, except to explain that Sojiro knows them somehow). Even if his team is scattering somewhat, he has other friends, and a family unit in Sojiro and Futaba. So why go? I mean, I can think of a lot of reasons, but we're never really given even one. So it's not compelling at all. Royal fixes none of this, and in fact makes it even worse by cutting out the goodbye road-trip scene that at least gave me closure: Joker getting one last ride with his team and leaving me with a sense that their connection will endure. Instead, his teammates disappear into a random car chase of some sort? And the road trip is replaced by a cab ride with Maruki -- which, okay, that part I actually did like -- and then passing Sumire on the train platform with barely a nod, which would probably have felt random and out of character even if she weren't HIS GIRLFRIEND. I mean, there are hints that she's broken up with him to pursue her gymnastics career; I wouldn't have a problem with that if it had been explicit, but it wasn't.
Anyway. I'm probably more bothered by this because the ending was the last thing I saw, and I'd hoped that the new content might improve on one of my major complaints. I do think quite fondly on the game as a whole, and it still rates among my favorite games ever.
We finished it last night, and I am satisfied! Not quite as amazing and revelatory as we found Persona 5, but that's a pretty high bar. The new content made a great addition to the story, and I was pleased at the way new characters and situations were interwoven through the entire game, not just dropped in like a standalone DLC. I don't love all the changes that were made, but if I ever decide to play it yet again, I'll definitely play Royal, not the original.
Okay, the rest is all spoilers, for both games, so let's have a cut. There are two new characters, Kasumi and Maruki, and the protagonist's interactions with Akechi are also significantly different -- he's now an optional confidant whom you have to choose to meet and get to know, rather than a confidant like Sae or Morgana who automatically advances levels with the story. I thought it added depth to his character, and also did a better job of laying the seeds of his true nature than the original game. The frenemy relationship with the protagonist is also better developed; I once commented to T, and he agreed, that it almost felt like stronger groundwork for an eventual romance than any of the relationships with the female companions. (But I think pretty much all of the potential romances are underwritten, creepy considering that the protagonist is a high-school student, or both -- so that's not a high bar.) One of the things I found most unsatisfying about Persona 5 is how Akechi basically disappeared from the story after you fight him in Shido's palace; Royal fixes that problem beautifully, by bringing him back for the new final act in a way that worked much better for me.
Maruki was also a good addition to the game. I liked that he was a very different sort of villain from the others -- more of a well-intentioned extremist. Who can't sympathize with his dream of a world free from pain and suffering, misguided as his methods might be? The perfect worlds that he gave each of the Phantom Thieves suited each of them perfectly (with one sort-of exception that I'll get into below); for each of them to give up those dreams to rejoin the team and take down Maruki required true, difficult sacrifices. It's good storytelling and an excellent use of those characters. It was also just plain fun to watch the protagonist figure out what was going on on New Year's Day, especially the whole thing with human Morgana. That little twist blindsided me completely, and I loved it.
And then... there's Kasumi. Or should I say Sumire? First off, I have one big-ass nitpick: I don't buy it. Why is Sumire's dream to become Kasumi, rather than to be with Kasumi in a world where her sister still alive? If Futaba, Haru, and Makoto can all have a parent back from the dead in Maruki's cognitive world, I refuse to accept that the original Kasumi couldn't also have returned. Granted, the original shift in Sumire's cognition happened before Maruki had access to his full powers, but once he could create such massive changes in the world, why not take advantage of that?
Anyway, that aside, her true identity was a pretty effective and gobsmacking reveal. Maybe I should have noticed that no one else in the school ever called her by name -- it was always "that honor student" or "that first-year student" -- but maybe it just feels normal on when everyone is also dancing around the name of the protagonist in conversation. It did throw us for a loop, however, because we had decided not too much beforehand that we would pursue her as our romance option this time through, in the hopes that her romance might tie better into the new parts of the story. So we'd been expecting to have a romance with Kasumi... and suddenly she's not really who we thought she was. Since all the other options were closed to us at that point, we followed through, but I'm not convinced it was worth it, especially since (like most of the other romances, as far as I can tell) her romance plot was not particularly well-integrated with the story, and the final ending cut scene was especially unsatisfying in that regard.
That's actually my biggest quibble here, the change to the ending. I was not very satisfied with the original ending. It's just not well-enough explained in the world of the story why the protagonist has to leave Tokyo and go back to his old life -- a life which, by all appearances, he doesn't even seem to miss (there is not a single mention of friends or family over the course of the entire year; he barely even brings up his parents, except to explain that Sojiro knows them somehow). Even if his team is scattering somewhat, he has other friends, and a family unit in Sojiro and Futaba. So why go? I mean, I can think of a lot of reasons, but we're never really given even one. So it's not compelling at all. Royal fixes none of this, and in fact makes it even worse by cutting out the goodbye road-trip scene that at least gave me closure: Joker getting one last ride with his team and leaving me with a sense that their connection will endure. Instead, his teammates disappear into a random car chase of some sort? And the road trip is replaced by a cab ride with Maruki -- which, okay, that part I actually did like -- and then passing Sumire on the train platform with barely a nod, which would probably have felt random and out of character even if she weren't HIS GIRLFRIEND. I mean, there are hints that she's broken up with him to pursue her gymnastics career; I wouldn't have a problem with that if it had been explicit, but it wasn't.
Anyway. I'm probably more bothered by this because the ending was the last thing I saw, and I'd hoped that the new content might improve on one of my major complaints. I do think quite fondly on the game as a whole, and it still rates among my favorite games ever.
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I think one way to explain Sumire’s own desire to be Kasumi rather than have Kasumi resurrected was due to her being suicidal and low self-esteem/worth. That seemed prevalent when Kasumi was alive and feeling more “in the moment” of their friends and family while Sumire felt pushed away and lacking. I think her social link completion with Joker is changing her cognition to realizing that other people do value and acknowledge her in ways that are separate from Kasumi, and knowing that she can’t replace Kasumi just by thinking she can copy her as a twin.
It’s like why I enjoy her persona being Cinderella; in the absence of evil family members, her growth is finding value in herself via impersonation and trying on what she believes to be ideals of a desired person (whether as a gymnast or when her phantom thief design is a bit too close to Joker’s own design) and then finding that her peers value her in spite of her true background and drawing strength from who she is as a person.
Although speaking of her phantom thief design, I wished that she could change her design to be less like Joker’s since I felt that played too much into the whole “senpai-kohai” dynamic when she looks up to him for guidance. I suppose it speaks to her tendency to emulate people with stronger personalities than her (vis a vis Kasumi and Joker) and then seeking validation, but I wish her social links included the other phantom thieves more like how Marie was in P4Golden.
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Interestingly, the car chase vs road trip thing didn't bother me the way it seems to have bothered you; I thought the closing scene in Leblanc made it pretty clear that they're all going to continue to be in contact and spend time together, so having the road trip would've felt very weird after that, like it was tacked on (and parts of that ending felt SO LONG.)
I mostly agree with you on everything else, though.