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Finally finished binging on this LP, only took me a little over a week.  I will chime in that I really dislike the second awakening personas, all of them feel like a step down design-wise from the initial ones. The thematic progression from folk-lore figure to god is kind of cool and mirrors the progression of the Phantom Thieves themselves, at least up until Okumura, but the designs are poo poo. GeneX posted:Haru's nice. Haru could have been the 4th party member instead of Yusuke. Haru definitely feels rushed and I wish she'd been introduced way earlier. It's kinda surprising how much she's been fleshed out in her limited time though. Like, she honestly has more of a defined character than Ann at this point, which is really damning of the writing for Ann considering she's been around since the first palace.
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Oct 19, 2018 16:20
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Eh, it's certainly the best of the second awakenings we've seen so far in terms of design, but I still consider it a step down from Kidd.
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Oct 19, 2018 16:43
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Sassy Sasquatch posted:See I totally get that but her tasteless poses in combat (see the stunned animation for instance) and overall representation are plain cringe worthy sometimes. Maybe it's a case of "too many cooks" where artists and writers were not quite on the same page as to who she is as a character, maybe it's just *anime* but it turned me off her really quickly. Particularly when Haru shows up and spends most of her screen time in a relatively tasteful thief outfit and a giant bulky sweater. Like hey, great, she's proof that the writers can create a compelling female character without really sexualizing her at all (granted she still deals with the omnipresent sexual assault drama that plagues almost every female confidant). Then you have Ann where it was a whole thing that Kamoshida neither knew nor cared about any aspect of Ann besides her physical appearance, as evidenced by his cognition of Ann being a brain-dead piece of meat in a bikini. The game rightly portrays this as disgusting. But then... the game itself focuses on nothing but her looks while mostly skirting around everything but the bare bones of her personality. It's pretty bad.
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Oct 19, 2018 18:22
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"Just following orders."
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Oct 22, 2018 18:01
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Akechi probably has at this point a triple-digit body count. The "let's talk about how evil we are!" conversation implied Shido more or less made it to his current position by climbing the bodies Akechi was piling up with his mental shutdowns. On top of that are the requests by Okumura, the other people who were in Shido's circle like the SIU Director who were presumably also making requests, and the subway incidents. Akechi is a bonafide mass murderer; I'm not sure how the game could walk that back without caving in on itself.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:24
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Oxxidation posted:my guesstimate's always been closer to 30-40 casualties if only because a man has to sleep sometimes, i mean can you imagine having to infiltrate a new Palace every week, you'd be hearing smooth jazz in your dreams I assumed most of his targets like the school president and the random subway drivers didn't have palaces? Akechi probably just bounced over to Mementos and capped them. So if anything he's hearing the Mementos theme in his dreams. Which, honestly, is kind of a valid excuse for going crazy and murdering a lot of people.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:47
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Oxxidation posted:i don't think he actually had access to mementos prior to joining up with the PT, that knowledge was limited to morgana and he sure as hell wasn't going to share with akechi Huh, well if that's the case then random subway drivers having palaces is kinda dumb. The game played it up as a palace only appearing if you had a seriously distorted cognition.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:59
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Shido's palace is definitely a slog but at least for me it didn't feel as infuriating as Okumura's. Length can be annoying, but the puzzle setpieces in the Okumura one (particularly that loving boss bot/rotating shifts guessing game to get the key kards) drove me up a wall. Also Sweatshop is hands down the worst Palace theme in the game whereas Ark is solidly average, even if it loops a bit too fast.
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Oct 23, 2018 18:00
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Oxxidation posted:ryuji could have been great if he hadn't been the writers' go-to mouthpiece every time they needed to vent another one of their terrible gags He's poorly written even for the requisite JRPG gag character though. It's a series jump, but I can't help but think of Karol from Tales of Vesperia, who is likewise the dumb sidekick who is the constant mouthpiece for gags and victim of physical humor, but it also almost always serves a dual purpose of informing Karol's character as lacking in purpose and self-confidence, which all pays off in an emotionally satisfying as hell arc. ToV isn't completely immune to awful writing (the "seduce a guard" segment in Heliord comes to mind...) but for the most part it succeeds in making a character who is both funny and fully realized. Meanwhile Ryuji is really only exhibits complex characterization in the Kamoshida arc and his confidants. After that he might as well be a blank slate the writers just molded on the fly to fit whatever joke they wanted to shoehorn into the scene.
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Oct 30, 2018 17:48
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In a vacuum sure but it fits a really obnoxious pattern in this game's writing of forcing almost every named female character to constantly face threats of sexual assault. As has been pointed out it would have been fine if the scene was more focused on Ann taking control of her sexuality but really it's just her fumbling through an awkward situation forced on her by Ryuji, followed by yet another attempted sexual assault. At which point the group just fights the guy anyway so why did we even need to have this uncomfortable scene that served no purpose other than to get the girls back into swimsuits for a couple minutes again? e. Oh and the game once again referenced the Yusuke blackmailing Ann to strip for him plot, and once again played it for a cheap laugh when it deserves nothing of the sort.
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Oct 30, 2018 18:45
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Yeah I've played through this game twice so I can't say that I hate it, in fact I quite enjoy it, but the writing definitely has some very annoying flaws.
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Oct 30, 2018 19:31
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Madmarker posted:Sae faces some issues with a glass ceiling........but I don't recall any sexual abuse, implied or otherwise, in her narrative. Kaneshiro makes some offhand remarks about forcing Sae into prostitution along with Makoto to pay off the debt, IIRC. Nothing in Sae's actual storyline has it though. Robindaybird posted:Ohya and Chihaya don't have it Takemi doesn't either, evil hospital dude just wanted her to fail because he was jealous of her superior medical skills.
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Oct 31, 2018 19:02
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Unless I missed something it feels like a plot point was dropped in regards to how important Shujin was to Shido's plans. When Maaku first shows up there are several scenes where people complain about it and the Principal responds along the lines of "well normally we wouldn't take somebody with a criminal record, but he has some circumstances on his side..." which implied maybe there were greater plans at work for our protagonist and the villains were more aware of his connection to Shido... except it never comes up again, and once the Phantom Thief poo poo starts up the Principal doesn't even think to suspect Maaku.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:08
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"Do as I say or I'll order you to cause a mental shutdown in youself!" 
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Nov 13, 2018 20:19
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kw0134 posted:Shido has other criminal resources available, including the more traditional use of street thugs, so there's at least that. If Shido has even a basic understanding of how the mental shutdowns work then he should be aware that physical threats towards Akechi are useless since he can just gently caress off into the cognitive world for however long he wants where nobody can reach him.
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Nov 13, 2018 20:37
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Huh, interesting. There's definitely a bit of vagueness with how tangible anything in the palaces really are, since you earn and take money and items out of the palace back into the real world, and consume food items you bring in. I can buy that it's not possible to stay there forever though. Oxxidation posted:shido bankrolls akechi so the mere threat of cutting off his money spigot and using his connections to leave the kid homeless and disgraced would probably suffice What Shido doesn't realize is that Akechi now knows about Mementos, the greatest cash cow in history.
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Nov 13, 2018 20:51
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 I forgot the characters keep calling out how dumb their elaborate attempts to obtain letters are because it just always ends up in a fight anyway.
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Nov 14, 2018 23:19
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Reminds me of Bioware RPG's (DA:O in particular comes to mind) where a lot of character flavor is hidden in random party banter you can only get by having certain characters together at certain times in certain places. There's legit work put in, but it's pointless if most never see it. The game would have picked up a solid 1-2 points on the rating scale by delaying and pouring a couple additional months into polishing Mementos.
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Nov 15, 2018 00:52
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TheOneAndOnlyT posted:Also, the script for this scene is pretty bad but Robbie Daymond is having the time of his loving life as insane Akechi and it owns. Last page but  Daymond completely hamming it up owns and really sold this otherwise dumb as hell scene for me. Arist also missed what is IMO the best line read where Akechi flips the gently caress out in response to one of the nicer dialogue options with "Is that supposed to be pity?! YOU PIECE OF SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!" 
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Nov 19, 2018 19:03
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Akechi having a palace would definitely make sense given he's definitely got a warped perception, although I'm not sure which of the deadly sins you could shoehorn him into. Wrath I guess? It is definitely dumb that Haru and Futaba have zero reservations about the pity party for Akechi given he murdered their parents and they know it. It also annoys me that the scene seems to imply that Akechi actually was on the cusp of being saved by the power of friendship before his insane doppelganger showed up since it really diminishes the gravity of how irredeemably broken his lot in life made him, but this is Anime so I'm not sure what else I was expecting.
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Nov 20, 2018 20:59
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Mr. Locke posted:Akechi could have been interesting if this side of him had more time to breathe and interact with the rest of your party to maybe earn some of this reaction he gets here (not to mention space out the ‘shocking reveals’) but instead he’s just a bargain version of P4’s main antagonist who barely gets any screen time after the reveal. And after the sudden flash of unearned goodwill the game forces your party to give him in the end (especially considering Akechi killed two of their loving parents, the act of which has left permanent mental scars on one of them) he can go gently caress off forever. Yeah my dumb pet idea for salvaging the stupidity that is the Akechi plotline would be to replace Ryuji with him, and have him be the secret ongoing mole helping Shido manipulate the PT's to accomplish his goals while also slowly learning to genuinely trust them and have second thoughts about his actions. He'd still be a mass murderer but at least there'd be some actual investment in him, and his death could be more "guy who realizes he hosed up and tragically sacrifices himself to atone" instead of "piece of poo poo gets what he deserves while sad music plays." Arist posted:I alluded to it in the previous update, but under the sins that flash in the game's opening he is "Cavum," which is a mistranslation of "Emptiness." Akechi is such a hipster his sin isn't even a real sin, nice.
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Nov 20, 2018 22:01
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Night10194 posted:This game has so many missteps to it but when it works, it really works. 
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Dec 1, 2018 22:18
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It can't be understated how hype this battle is the first time you play through it. Particularly once you hit the second phase and Rivers starts blasting. I love that the song is never used at any point in the game until now.
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Dec 4, 2018 21:50
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loving love Fiona Apple posted:This is a good LP of a good game don't worry about it.
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Dec 6, 2018 05:32
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Wonder how poorly the switch port will run.
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Dec 7, 2018 17:40
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GeneX posted:Joker is gonna steal Yoshi’s heart and make him admit to his tax fraud  I feel a bond of trust between myself and Yoshi...*flashfoward to the interrogation room.*  Your group was able to move all over the city with lightning speed, despite the subway accidents. You must have had transportation... perhaps a friendly green dinosaur? I'm right, aren't I?!
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Dec 7, 2018 19:17
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Shiho should have been a party member, imo. Although I guess that would have opened up it's own can of worms in the skeeviness of her then also having to be a romantic interest like the other female party members.
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Dec 7, 2018 22:20
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I love that Shido is such a massive dickhead that he worked to set up a contingency such that even if the PT's manage to win, he can at least take them down with him. Also  Ryuji, saddest JRPG death since Goofy.
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Dec 9, 2018 01:04
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Leave it to P5 to cap off an incredibly well executed and hype setpiece with some of the worst, poorly executed "comedy" in the game yet. Game is great and I love it but the rapid zig-zags in quality can be infuriating.
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Dec 12, 2018 19:07
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Arist posted:But you just said they took you to Shido’s place! Also, you said they let you go! How do you not know where you were!? It is interesting how everybody just assumes (correctly, I guess?) that the entire conspiracy that Shido set up would collapse like a house of cards the second he had his heart changed, and nobody would seek to continue it. Or hell, even just go get some revenge out of spite. Like, Shido knows at a minimum that Maaku is a Phantom Thief and where he lives, and it wasn't jealously guarded information considering he sent some goons to Leblanc to grab him and Sojiro. Nobody is at all worried that some more goons or the Yakuza guy you know for a fact Shido was paying for assassination might show up at the door in a few hours with a beef? You'd think priority one for Sojiro after being kidnapped would be to throw Maaku and Futaba in the car, get far away and lay low until you know for sure the heat is off.
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Dec 12, 2018 21:48
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I'm really glad I don't care about cheevos because this looks like some infuriating horseshit.
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Dec 14, 2018 17:32
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GunnerJ posted:Did they ever actually change Niijima's heart? No, they didn't actually steal her treasure: it was a fake to fool Akechi. Maaku used his Rank 5 charm to convince Sae to come over to their side during the interrogation. It's also sort of implied that Makoto's heart to heart with Sae's shadow just before they leave the palace might have had kind of an effect in at least nudging her towards redemption a bit, I think.
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Dec 19, 2018 19:17
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Tora is master of the grassroots campaign.
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Dec 20, 2018 00:15
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It's unfortunate that as much as the Igor twist was masterfully executed, the subsequent "save your party members from despair!" part is pretty half-assed. Not only is their no voice acting, and not only are they all more or less reading from the same generic script instead of having their own unique hurdles to overcome, but it's yet another goddamn retread of the "Party member asks Joker if they're really doing the right thing, Joker sighs in an exasperated manner and tells them for the hundredth loving time 'yes for gently caress's sake we are doing the right thing now shut up' shtick that P5 just won't stop repeating. Like I get that Joker is supposed to be the glue that holds the party together, but at a certain point the naval gazing all the other PT's just keep reverting back to the second anything goes wrong is infuriating.
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Jan 1, 2019 08:11
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Imagine if this game had had a bit more development time, and they'd actually been able to show Haru's personality in the actual plot instead of random Mementos convos 99% of players will never hear ever.
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Jan 2, 2019 20:16
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The Persona 5 anime is real bad and you shouldn't watch it. This is my hot take. Alice is hilarious on NG+ if you have the cash to fuse her early on.
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Jan 3, 2019 21:57
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I do love how none of the introspection or gradual awakening of the masses that's happened since the last attempt actually mattered because it turns out the PT's could have beat the grail the first time if they'd not been holding the idiot ball and realized "hmm maybe we should try cutting the massive veins that pulse ominously every time the Grail regens."
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Jan 4, 2019 20:29
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Yeah the first time I beat him I didn't even bother ever attacking the limbs. The status effects are annoying but if you're decent enough level it's easy to DPS through 15K health relatively quickly. Granted I was also cheesing the hell out of him with debilitate, which at least in my experience made him constantly want to waste his turn with Dekunda.
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Jan 5, 2019 23:13
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Between Shido's Senator Armstrong phase and all the subsequent "the masses are sheep!" dialogue I just muted the music for Yaldy and played Collective Conscious over it instead.
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Jan 6, 2019 19:59
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Koorisch posted:Our Beginning was ok but somehow I just feel like that would have been the perfect opportunity for Life Will Change since the lyrics for that song fits perfectly with the events happening in this scene. Yeah this definitely felt like the time to pull the old "Anime OP fades in over the dramatic final fight" trope. Alas. At least Satanael is pretty fuckin' neato. I also like this scene even if it's cheesy as gently caress. All your rank 10 confidants rallying the populace is a pretty nice touch.
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Jan 7, 2019 08:52
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