From the start, Persona 5 plunges you directly into the atmosphere, starting with a somewhat tense heist where our hero finds himself trapped by the Police. In a few seconds, the game transports us into its universe and takes the opportunity to quickly explain the basic mechanics of the gameplay. After being intercepted by the police, you find yourself in the interrogation room to undergo many punishments, which will gradually allow you to learn more about the story of our hero. Indeed, before becoming a famous thief who requires the intervention of all the police of Tokyo, even of Japan, you are only a simple student, who after being wrongly accused of assaulting a politician, is transferred to a new high school in Tokyo. If the starting point is altogether classic, it nevertheless lays the foundations of your adventure, since you will quickly have to acclimatize to your new environment, by behaving as a model citizen but also by sympathizing with the other high school students. As you will have understood, your social life will have a direct impact on the game and in addition to being an RPG, Persona 5 adopts a really well done life simulation side which will require a lot of time from the players. And very quickly, your relationships will bring you to the heart of the matter, namely the fights and the exploration of Palaces.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ON PROBATION
Barely arrived at high school, our hero finds himself caught up in a sordid story with a teacher whose methods are far from orthodox. After meeting another student who tells you about the inappropriate behavior of this teacher, you find yourself propelled into a Palace, which is none other than the materialization of the darkest thoughts of adults. These Palaces act as dungeons and this is where all the action of Persona 5 will take place. rigor and you will have to sneak in like Arsène Lupin, without being spotted by the guards, thieves oblige. Of course, you can regularly go to the confrontation but you will have to be careful not to fall into the trap of gluttony. Your potions and other health kits are relatively limited and the different save points can be quite far from each other. Very quickly, you will understand that moving forward discreetly will be the key to success, unless you like to repeat the same scenes over and over again.
If the game does not want to be a Metal Gear Solid in power, it still offers a real feeling of infiltration and we quickly get caught up in the game. The changes of hiding place take place in a very stylized way and it does not There's nothing more enjoyable than moving quickly from hideout to hideout to surprise your opponents. Indeed, to motivate you to use a more discreet approach, Persona 5 allows you to take enemies from the back to have an advantage at the start of the fight. In addition, the guards within the Palace trigger an alert gauge when they spot you. As long as the gauge is not at 100%, everything is fine, but once the maximum is reached you will be automatically expelled from the dungeon. You will understand, infiltration will be king and without it, you will have a terrible time overcoming these Palaces. And to emphasize this aspect, know that to get to the end of a dungeon you will not have to defeat the person responsible for its appearance, but you will have to steal their heart so that the impious thoughts of the person disappear. In terms of level design, the Palaces are not the best, but the atmosphere is so creepy that you can't help but look right and left to discover all the horror that animates these dungeons. Of course, you won't always be able to be in the shadows and regularly you will have to fight the guardians using your Personas.
"EVERYBODY BE COOL, THIS IS A ROBERY !"
J-RPG obliges, Persona 5 relies on a relatively classic turn-based system but demonstrates quite original ideas, which give pep to this somewhat aging genre. Thus, your characters will be able to call on Personas, which can lend you a hand during the fight. Thanks to them, you will be able to use elemental attacks as well as alteration spells (defense reduction, sleep). If the secondary characters have only one Persona, your hero is on the other hand able to use several of them, which makes it possible to regularly vary the approaches and to wedge you on the weak point of your adversary. Like the Shin Megami Tensei, Persona 5 uses a system of strengths and weaknesses that allows you to do more or less damage. To top it off, if you attack the weakness of an opponent, the latter finds himself stunned and allows you to win an extra turn. But above all, when an enemy is finished in the doldrums, you can switch to Hold-Up mode, which allows you to start negotiations with the monster in question. You can then negotiate with him in order to recover objects or money. If it can be practical to better equip you, the Hold-Up will mainly be used to enlist a Persona in your team. Then begins a tough negotiation where you will have to choose your answers skillfully to convince the enemy to ally with you. If overall this feature is very nice, it is often difficult to assess the scope of a response, and it is not uncommon for the enemy to take the fly and continue to fight you. If this will not cause problems for regulars of the series, neophytes may quickly get tired of this often frustrating system. Nevertheless, you will still have to get used to capturing Personas since your passages in the Velvet Room will directly depend on your capture of spirits.
Indeed, regularly, you will have to take a walk in the Velvet Room, a room located in a parallel universe where the master Igor can address you but also give you the possibility of merging your Personas! As you will have understood, spirit hunting will occupy an important place in the game and will allow you to obtain much more powerful spirits. Very well thought out, the fusion system leaves very little to chance since you can transfer the powers of a demon to the new one. To avoid excess and prevent you from being too strong, it is impossible to obtain a fusion of a higher level than your hero. Quite complex, without requiring a Bac+5, the fusion system is very pleasant to handle and will always be very useful to you. If some Personas will only be unlockable with fusions, the others can be captured thanks to Hold-Ups, which allows you not to spend too much time on this aspect. But despite the presence of these spirits to help you in the fights, you will not be able only on them, and it will be important to increase the capacities of your heroes by going to socialize with other high school students.
THE FRIENDZONE FOR DUMMIES
As mentioned at the start of the test, Persona 5 is both an RPG and a life simulator. From then on, you will need to go talk to other students in order to acquire new friends who can join your team, but you will also have to be studious in class and find a job, which will allow you to improve your skills. characteristics of your character. Thus, intelligence will increase when you answer an answer correctly, while you will gain charm when talking with a girl or standing out in class. The city of Tokyo is full of things to do and it will be difficult to do everything in one day. This is why the game takes place over an entire school year. Thus, you will have to carefully select your activities since certain objectives will have to be achieved within a given time. And if you miss a deadline, it will be the direct "Game Over". It is therefore up to you to organize yourself as well as possible so as not to be overwhelmed by events. Overall, the social part of Persona 5 turns out to be extremely deep and the feeling of being a real Japanese high school student is really felt. The characters all show an exemplary charisma and we quickly become attached to the personalities of each other. Only downside, the translation of the game is only in English, people who have a little trouble with the language of Shakespeare may be somewhat discouraged by the mass of dialogue. Especially since the translation allows itself some abbreviations and other slang words which will often require reading with great attention. It's a bit of a shame, but it avoids having a too rough French translation that would distort the words of the game.
THE HIDDEN FACE OF CONTEMPORARY JAPAN
On this subject, moreover, Persona 5 turns out to be much darker than its elder. The topics covered are often connected with what is happening in the news and certain events really push us to reflect on our society and the excesses that accompany it. Whether it's bullying or even rape, all themes are taken seriously and push the player to really take sides. This is also reflected in our response choices, which are ultimately often guided by our emotions. In addition, you will often have to go and glean information from ordinary people in order to learn more about the situation. Without even realizing it, you very quickly find yourself playing detective and the various testimonies that you collect during the adventure allow you to really soak up the story. If some dialogues can be extended, others are very addictive and manage to make us laugh or move us very quickly. For those who would be overwhelmed by the blabla of these growing teenagers, rest assured, it is also possible to fast forward so as not to spend hours and hours on the dialogues.
On the technical side, Persona 5 is clearly not one of those games that amaze us. We're getting closer to what we could find on PS3 and some textures really work. Nevertheless, the game makes up for it in many aspects, starting with a masterful artistic direction. It's simple, the districts of Tokyo are so well transcribed that we find ourselves directly caught up in the world of the game. our road. Quite honestly, Persona 5 can put off at first sight because of the particularly present narrative phases but the fact of strolling in a Tokyo as real as nature allows you to emancipate yourself from these a priori to let yourself be carried away by the history of the game, which is rare enough to be underlined. The user interface is also beautiful thanks to this mixture of red and black of the most beautiful effect. If usually RPGs are content with rather austere and very complex menus, it is quite the opposite of Persona 5 which is on the contrary intuitive and very easy to learn. To top it all off, the game has virtually no loading time and the various transitions between areas look great. The animated side of the game is splendid and the characters have a real charisma, which makes you want to get attached to them. Finally, how not to mention the soundtrack, of great beauty, which revisits both rock and jazz while always being in tune with what is happening on the screen. Quite frankly, if you are a fan of RPGs, Persona 5 will be part of the mandatory purchases for this year 2017.
