If you’re a fan of Japanese RPGs, but somehow not a PlayStation user — which does seem paradoxical, admittedly — this week is a big time. Person 5 Royalan enhanced re-release of 2016’s Game of the Year contender, is finally out on non-PlayStation platforms.
At this stage, Persona 5 is six years old. Anyway, this is old news. Even the royal update is three. The game’s elements also didn’t age well — especially some story elements and tone choices that felt very dated and outdated when the game originally released, let alone six years later. But the thing is, it’s still wonderful. Persona 5 remains one of the best and most important Japanese RPG games of the past decade.
Part of the reason behind this is that Persona has taken an interesting path compared to the big-name JRPGs. Its most obvious antagonist is Final Fantasy, the series that acts as the patriarch of the entire genre – which I think makes Dragon Quest the patriarch. While Final Fantasy has spent the past decade or so analyzing and trying to emulate the success of Western RPGs like The Witcher, Skyrim and even Mass Effect, Persona 5 has made no secret of it The essence of – a complete, highly traditional anime AF character – plays the game.
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