That's it, after like a month or so, juggling between studying, job hunting, and working during this pandemic period finally I managed to finish Persona 5 royal. While the royal introduced new features that improved the gameplay experience, they can be superficial at times, and only make the game even easier than it already is. when I played persona 5 vanilla, I found the big bad final boss was absurdly easy. How about this version? It's even easier.
The bad part: the new story arc is only available during last 30 hours of the game, It took me 70 hours before I reached the royal content. It's because I fast forwarded the text a lot. In my original p5 vanilla run, it took me 110 hours to finish the game. It means I played the original content 40 hours shorter.
Now about the new story arc itself, fortunately it's very well executed. Persona 5 introduced a very likable character who turns out to be an antagonist who has a philosophical clash with the protagonists. However, this antagonist is not incredibly evil you see, and the antagonist's reasons to commit the deed is rather tragic. I cannot really see the character as a villain, like the rest of the rotten adults in the game. It's very refreshing. Oh don't spoil yourself to read the story. Experience it yourself!
The final dungeon is also quite enjoyable to navigate, the final boss battles are more fun than the vanilla. At least I felt the final battles have more strategic elements. I actually kinda thrilled when I actually died in this game, because the game is pathetically easy even at the highest difficulty (merciless).
Of course, the most disappointing part is probably the fact that, Kasumi, the new poster girl of Persona 5 royal only joins you in the last 30 hours, and her costumes are locked beyond a $14 paywall. However you don't really need those costumes to enjoy the game. I think the default costumes of the game are very good already.
That being said, I am not sure if I am ready to replay this game anytime soon. While it's very engaging and has a lot of contents, sometimes it's just too slow. After you clear one palace, you will spend time to maximize your social links, and when the social links are maximized, the social aspects of this game are practically dead. There are no additional benefits to socialize after you maximize everything.
The next game I am going to play is either TLOU2 or GOT, the last exclusives of PS4, after that I will sell my console, and saving my money for PS5.
The bad part: the new story arc is only available during last 30 hours of the game, It took me 70 hours before I reached the royal content. It's because I fast forwarded the text a lot. In my original p5 vanilla run, it took me 110 hours to finish the game. It means I played the original content 40 hours shorter.
Now about the new story arc itself, fortunately it's very well executed. Persona 5 introduced a very likable character who turns out to be an antagonist who has a philosophical clash with the protagonists. However, this antagonist is not incredibly evil you see, and the antagonist's reasons to commit the deed is rather tragic. I cannot really see the character as a villain, like the rest of the rotten adults in the game. It's very refreshing. Oh don't spoil yourself to read the story. Experience it yourself!
The final dungeon is also quite enjoyable to navigate, the final boss battles are more fun than the vanilla. At least I felt the final battles have more strategic elements. I actually kinda thrilled when I actually died in this game, because the game is pathetically easy even at the highest difficulty (merciless).
Of course, the most disappointing part is probably the fact that, Kasumi, the new poster girl of Persona 5 royal only joins you in the last 30 hours, and her costumes are locked beyond a $14 paywall. However you don't really need those costumes to enjoy the game. I think the default costumes of the game are very good already.
That being said, I am not sure if I am ready to replay this game anytime soon. While it's very engaging and has a lot of contents, sometimes it's just too slow. After you clear one palace, you will spend time to maximize your social links, and when the social links are maximized, the social aspects of this game are practically dead. There are no additional benefits to socialize after you maximize everything.
The next game I am going to play is either TLOU2 or GOT, the last exclusives of PS4, after that I will sell my console, and saving my money for PS5.
