Before finally heading into Persona 5 I figured I should knock this one out of the way first because of course the spin-off fighting game is canon and has important character moments because why wouldn't it?
To start with the gameplay is obviously really good which is to be expected given we've got another Arc System Works game here. Very similar vibes to something like Fighterz which I enjoyed a lot. It feels simple on the surface level but there's a lot to delve into once you know what you're doing.
But I'm not here for the combat I'm here for the story. Especially since it's crossing over P4 and P3. Needless to say I was very interested.
This... Is a very mixed bag. It genuinely has some of the best writing in the series at times but I can't lie and say for most of this I wasn't bored out of my goddamn mind.
I of course wanted the full experience so I played through every story available. Because of this I experienced the exact same story multiple times which got old real quick.
Nothing connects properly when you play from the different perspectives which I guess is kinda the point I think? At least for the first half you can kinda choose your fav and let them be the main character but in the second half the story is split into two halves. Neither side matches up with the other but you need to beat both for the true ending? It also gets so infuriating watching both casts of characters slowly come to the same conclusions you've already seen in the previous play through. Also pretty weird seeing Yu have a voice and personality.
So basically my main problem is the structure. Its structured awfully and because of that becomes an absolute slog to get through. Also it felt like I was barely actually fighting. I'd say it's a solid 60/40 split of Visual Novel/Fighting game. There was genuinely a moment in the P3 campaign where I didn't touch my controller for 30 minutes. Just watching the pngs talk to eachother. Such riveting gameplay.
But anyways outside of the structure is the story any good? Its fine. It is pretty cool seeing these two casts of characters crossover and there are some funny moments between them and I did enjoy Episode P4 for the most part mainly because it felt the most coherent but, there is one thing I definitely must sing this games praise for and that is Labrys.
Her backstory is one of the most well written segments in this entire franchise. It's so goddamn beautiful and I loved every second of it even if it was like 25 minutes without any actual gameplay. I was just so absorbed in the story telling that it didn't matter. Good job guys.
I did also like that Adachi comes in clutch at the end of the P4 side that was cool although I wish they actually animated the final slash when their Persona's fused instead of just jpegs but oh well.
This review is 100% all over the place and that's because I'm tired and to be completely honest I'm ready to be done with Persona 4. I don't hate it but man I'm looking forward to moving on from these characters.
After all this yes I did enjoy because the gameplay was really fun and I did enjoy a solid chunk of the story and seeing where all these characters have ended up since leaving them especially the P3 cast, I really like the idea of the "Shadow Operatives" but man the story structure is so fucked up it really holds this back from greatness. Oh and there's also just not much to do outside of arcade or story but that's typically an arcsys problem anyway so I wasn't expecting much else.
I wonder if Elizabeth's journey continues in P5 to any extent. If Yuki gets saved in P5 and I've managed to avoid that spoiler I will be so happy but I don't think so.
But yeah finally Persona 5 time babyyy.
Edit: OH SHIT SHO. I completely forgot about him. Uhhh yeah he's fine I guess. He's the next velvet room guy so that's cool. Yeah I felt pretty much indifferent to him tbh. Although Shiji being his dad was a nice touch.