And finally we have Persona 5, the recent addition to the franchise. The visuals improved even further, and now look artistic as fuck. They brought back the negotiation in battles, which I missed so much since the second game. Also, the shadows who become evil counterparts have even more personality and presence than before; now it’s like they are characters of their own.
There is also the great concept of mass media manipulating the will of the people, as well as mankind feeling safe when its being controlled. Unfortunately, this is where the game falls flat because what could have elevated it to a great theme, is presented in a very superficial and eventually dumb way. Kandori and Joker may have been straightforward when it comes to bad guys, but the great thing about them is how they realized the mistake of using supernatural means to get what they want, by getting what they want. Their catharsis was a self-realization based on their actions, which gave them depth in the longrun.
The villains in Persona 5 are light novel garbage. They don’t realize their mistake on their own, and they essentially get brainwashed into repenting by kicking the crap out of them. This is not character development, it’s character rewrite. And I have to add how Kandori and Joker were not torturing their subordinates for the heck of it, unlike the palace masters, who are literally one-dimensional evil rapists, who laugh like maniacs and love to destroy the lives of innocents. Coupled with how the atmosphere remains light-hearted, when it’s otherwise dealing with sociopolitical issues and the worst people imaginable, and you got the same tonal whiplash as Persona 3, where the date simulation is clashing with people turning to coffins and shooting yourself in the head repeatedly. Persona 4 wasn’t trying to be edgy or deep and that’s why it was such a fun game.
Also, they went overboard with the empowerment fantasy and lost any sense of subtlety. It’s true that the theme was always about chuuni teenagers going against evil adults, but it was never done in such a volume. The good guys are a bunch of edgy-dressed posers, breaking the law, ridiculing the abusing adults, and becoming heroes in the eyes of victimized teenagers. Where is the backlash of using their powers? Where are the negative consequences? They don’t exist anymore. And holy shit, they sexualized the female characters to ridiculous levels. The blonde one in particular gets sexually harassed by every male in the whole game.
And what’s with the twist of the final boss being the holy grail? The truth about Igor, the loli jailers, and the god of control were last moment plot twists that were there for the heck of it. I mean there were lots of twists regarding who was the killer in Persona 4, but they didn’t matter much and were thematically relevant. In Persona 5 there is no thematic need for any of that; they could have stopped at defeating the corrupt politician and his illegitimate son and it would be fine. But no, we need a damn cosmic horror to fight even if it comes out of thin air. This is something Persona 1 and 2 did not suffer from.
As you see from this chart, it comes down to Eternal Punishment being the best, but you can’t fully appreciate it without first playing Innocent Sin. Persona 1 is completely skipable since all its good ideas are present in Persona 2. Persona 3 is dull as hell, suffers from tonal whiplash, and later games fix its problems, so I also don’t recommend playing it. Persona 4 is a blast if you play it for fun instead of giving a damn about the plot or the themes. And Persona 5 has easily the best gameplay and visual presentation, with everything else being terrible. As it happens with most franchises, visuals and gameplay constantly improve, but the quality of writing and the atmosphere keep getting worse. Once again it is proven “retro always wins”.
Your channel isn't even focused on games and you are already better at reviewing them than most videogame reviewers.
I find interesting how you still give a lot of weight to the script and how your thoughts about the gameplay are more focused on how it feels with the story and themes rather than how fun are its mechanics and gimmicks. It's like you don't view them as mere entertainment.