Persona 5

[Ultra Mantis]

Currently fighting the secret boss, LV99, 2 million Yen in the bank.

My first attempt I made it to 20 turns then got boomed by the all-out attack. Think I need to put some health regen abilities on my Yoshitsune then I'm not wasting precious turns healing. I have the accessory from the Reaper so I'm pretty hard to kill, but my DPS isn't enough I guess.

Ohya is the worst character in the game, found out she has the same VA as Yukiko too which makes it even worse. I miss Yukiko :(

Haru's Persona upgrade is wild, maybe my favourite design of all the thieves. Carmen still a top contender though. All the initial ones are pretty great, though both of Futuba's are kinda lame.

[Ultra Mantis]

Took me 6 attempts to beat the secret boss on Merciless, a lot of it comes down to luck but here was my strat



Joker - Yoshitsune - Divine Pillar

Hassou Tobiv | Endure
Charge | Regenerate 2
Diarahan | Regenerate 3
Arms Master | Repel Ice

Joker's role is to charge and then Hassou Tobi, that gives enough damage to see you through the damage requirement, he can have one turn per cycle where he does something else but anything more than that is game over.

I added Repel Ice after my fourth failure, because I kept getting frozen and missing a turn with zero action always meant I lost. Diarahan is there for emergencies but I never used it, another repel or an absorb would be better there.

Starting line up: Makoto, Yusuke, Haru

Makoto and Haru only get their weaknesses targeted in phase 3, while Yusuke is the most useless party member but can also reflect gun and physical damage and the aim in the first round is to not get hit with a critical. Makoto heals while Haru keeps Joker buffed with Heat Riser and dishes out one shot kill if one of Jokers attacks misses one twin or Mapsiodyne for supplementary damage. Yusuke keeps speed buffs up then does single or all damage when required (he only does chip though). Yusuke should survive the fire round due to his evade, or if he gets hit he will endure and then Futaba will save him.

The twins should have fully healed themselved by now and eventually they break out the nukes and psi attacks, in my experience Makoto and Haru are dead as soon as this happens and all of your buffs get removed, HOWEVER Futaba will swap them out for Ryuji and Morgana. Ann was never subbed, and that's a good thing because Ryuji immediately needs to put the Attack buff on and Morgana with the Speed debuff to the twins. Yusuke swaps out for Ann because its big damage time.

Ryuji charges and uses Agneyastra then buffs, Ann concentrates and uses Blazing Hell while Morgana heals. You have to get lucky with the twins staying around the same health, Caroline takes a lot of reflect damage so I found it was best to use a few single target attacks on Justine with Ann and Ryuji to keep them both level. You also have to get lucky with evades on turns where they target a weakness, you can only use one turn with Joker per cycle to get everyone back to life but the only real danger comes with the Elec / Wind turn where one of them always got hit. Provided Caroline doesn't reflect kill herself they go down way before the final phase begins and they get jacked up to hopeless levels.

Tough, frustrating fight. Much harder than P4's, but fairer than P3's.

[Ultra Mantis]

December is pretty much post-Brexit Britain.

[Ultra Mantis]

QUESTION:
Does Destor really exist?

[Destor]

I do.

I hope P5R is better than P4G. The social links in p4g spoil (by way of poor foreshadowing) far too much of the main plot. P4G actively makes the game worse. I hope what's added in P5R is blind run friendly.

[Ultra Mantis]

I played Golden knowing only who the Killer was and the OG ace detective's secret, but the twist in the middle and at the end were still a big surprise to me. Can't really remember much foreshadowing, I thought [redacted]'s link was weird and innocuous until the plot caught up with it and I thought for sure Marie was going to be the first victim before her link started.

I think the most glaring difference in playing the remaster is that your Chie and my Chie are a completely different person. As long as they don't recast Futaba (or anyone actually but I know she's your fave) and steer clear of Ashly Burch I'm in.

[Destor]

I think everything with Marie just drags. She's shoehorned into everything and its a bit jarring. recently watched a twitch streamer play p4g and i was not inspired to go pick it up. Feels like someone stringing the neck of the IP to wring out enough content to justify a purchase.


That said...if they recast Futaba-chan :'(

[Ultra Mantis]

You can pretty much ignore her after her first rank, but yeah that means you don't get to do the bonus dungeon. I didn't feel like she was too intrusive, her link is actually quite similar to Elizabeth from P3 so that was more of the vibe I got from her. I didn't pick up on the hints of her true identity because I never clocked the significance of Yu's persona, but I guess that could be a huge foreshadow, once you know you know yeah.

[Destor]

Im not sure P5 has room for a character of similar significance so its possible its moot anyhow. I just hope its smaller scale and they add more slice of life moments of the group like the ski trip in p4g.

[Destor]

P4/p4g really did slice of life very well as a whole

[Ultra Mantis]

Yeah they made the Investigation Team seem like genuine friends outside of all the weird shit they got up to inside the TV. I'd go in for more PT bonding events.

[Disturbed316]

I got this the other day, based on the hype/good reviews. Any tips for a noob?

[Destor]

This will make more sense as you go but my advice:


Try to clear dungeons in a single day if possible. Stamina (mana) is essential to doing this. To that end Death (Doctor) is essential to get leveled as early as possible so you can get sp regen items and gear.


Other than that just make the most of each day.

[Ultra Mantis]

You will find some locked chests inside the Palaces and you might be tempted to put off clearing them until you have crafted enough Lockpicks so you don't miss anything.... the contents of these chests are not unique and are NOT worth wasting a day over.

You will want to level all your personality stats to max eventually, but if you prioritise Guts Rank 3 it could actually help you to save time later.

That said, don't stress to do everything on your first playthrough, hang out with whoever you want and enjoy the ride.

[OssMan]

Been playing 3 and 4. Just really making me appreciate persona 5 for all it is. Mementos itself is the entire dungeon crawling section of both of those games. Crazy

[Destor]

After long consideration i think 4 is better than 5. 5 has better dungeons and quality of life. And the perks are great too. Oh and music as a whole (4s battle theme is the best song in all of persona though.) But 4 has a better story and better characters and it its by so much that i like 4 better.

[Ultra Mantis]

I flip flop over which one I like best on a daily basis.

[Destor]

Coming home to "welcome back big bro" is just so iconic to me. The game feels like family.

[Ultra Mantis]

I often play the P4 soundtrack as background noise when I'm working on things. I think of it as raising my personality stats.

[OssMan]

I put on the 10 version of the Leblanc cafe theme

[OssMan]

Always bothered me how they didnt pronounce the "c" in Leblanc...........

They also altered the pronunciation of some surnames, like they they put the stress on the second syllable of Sakamoto instead of the third where it naturally is in japanese

Not big deals, just interesting

That said, there is some guy who I guess is mad that he got rejected to be a translator for p5 so wrote a huge thing and put a website together about how there are like 5 lines in the game that are translated awkwardly... www.personaproblems.com... sad imo

[Destor]

...well...at least he's passionate :|

[Ultra Mantis]

I did find some of the pronunciation of names weird but not as jarring as hearing "Choke a bow". I think it's primarily down to the voice directors, IIRC the VA for Ann outright said they were all instructed to say the names the wrong way.

That website is a real oofer.

[Ultra Mantis]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hjjV48wXp84" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

What.

[OssMan]

what are the "scramble" games... "shibuya scramble"... looks like arkham city kind of combat...

[Ultra Mantis]

Not sure, I don't think they've made one before. Wikipedia tells me Shibuya Scramble is a completely unrelated live action visual novel. This seems to be Persona crossed with Dynasty Warriors, apparently has a mix of gameplay from both series.

[Destor]

Its dynasty warriors, yeah. But the story is a legit continuation

[Ultra Mantis]

Well now I'm in on the ground level.

[Destor]

Im waiting to hear some first hand reports

[Destor]

3/31/2020

[Destor]

:cool:

[Ultra Mantis]

Is that for Phantom Strikers or P5R? Really having an internal battle about picking up the special edition re-release of a game I last played in January :rofl:

[Destor]

P5R. P5S doesnt have a US release date yet. I preordered it. I just want to support the brand.

[Ultra Mantis]

I'll be picking it up too in some form or another, the question is, do I REALLY need a Joker mask?

[Ultra Mantis]

I mean, if they threw in the duster and a pair of those Shujin Academy pants there would be no question.

[Destor]

I ALMOST got the collectors...but nah...though it does have a sound track...

[Destor]

But i do already have the 3 disk version...

[Destor]

Playing P5R. Tons of quality of life improvements. Changes to the level design feel out of place. Boss fights have new phases. Some are good some are bad. I dont know if i would say new players should start with p5r but if you love P5 its a must play.

[Ultra Mantis]

I am eventually going to get to this. Eventually.

<insert takeyourtime.gif>

[OssMan]

buh. I already got a few dungeons into a new game plus of the original, I just don't know how much of the game I can take. I might get it in a couple years

[Destor]

This is my 3rd run lol

[Destor]

128 hours later its a must play for any P5 fan. That said i would not recommend it for someone's first play.



No spoilers:


Most of the content works because its new and makes for an easier time. This is good on repeat plays but as a 1st run the game very well might be too easy.



I finished the game with a plat and level 99 characters with max money and personas with max stats pretty effortlessly. All of december was free days since all confidants maxed. Again great for replays but i feel like on a 1st play youd be robbed of the feeling of accomplishment.


The narritive also muddies the theming of the main game a bit and the added month steps on the vanilla narritive to a good degree.



I do think vanilla has a better ending as well.


That said the new stuffis 85% great and i highly recommend it.

[OssMan]

Why is "life simulator" a common theme in japanese games... Persona, Yakuza, Shenmue etc where you spend your time going around the city and doing the different activities, increasing your player stats by acquiring the skills from the different things you can do. Like why is that a common thing. Its how i think about my life now. Also with the new yakuza like a dragon and persona 3 remake coming out, the chances I play Royal are very very low

[Destor]

I have the new like a dragon and p3r but in so wrapped up in baldurs gate 3 that itll be a bit before i get to them