Man, I wish I could have had the sort of experience everyone else did with the game. For the record, I am all aboard both the SMT and Persona Train. I own every mainline game released stateside, and most of the spin-offs. I even got the Take Your Heart Edition. I have also beaten the game, so there's no notion of 'don't worry, it'll get better later!'.
I WANTED to love this game. It started out great and I was blown away by how slick everything down to the menu and transitions were. But after awhile, it started feeling like more style than substance
But man, that writing and plot. It felt so... juvenile. I know the characters are teens, but that's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to how the game just feels like an edgy, teen power fantasy where those ROTTEN ADULTS are so evil and only WE can do anything about them. It was cringeworthy. The game tried to tackle some pretty mature issues, but did so in a shallow, immature way with a stark black and white mentality. Every 'rotten adult' felt more like an evil caricature than a fleshed out human.
Akechi felt like a weak attempt to capture some of what made Adachi compelling and interesting, but without any of the subtly and nuance. I'm genuinely unsure if his reveal as a villian was supposed to be surprising. And the final boss was probably one of the weakest I've experienced in the series. It was like a thematic and gameplay mix of Nyx, Izanami, and Hari Hara (from Digital Devil Saga) but less impactful then all three.
Also that heinous space station dungeon. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. I almost need to take time off from the game. It was bland, long, and wow the big bossman treats his workers like ROBOTS how evil and novel.
I will say, though, it probably has the best social links/confidants of any Persona games. Expect THAT one. You know the one.
Man. Maybe I'm just getting too old to fully appreciate the series.
