Persona 5 -Generalities
I have logged over one hundred hours in this game and I still don’t know how long I have left in this game. I’m in the depths of Mementos and I think there are at least two more bosses left. A day ago I put in at least two hours without making any headway. Today I switched my strategy and instead of trying to beat the shadows, I have started asking them for money. Just like real life, everyone of them runs away when asked for monetary help.
Be that as it may, I still have not seen the ending. There are some thoughts I’ve had while playing. Most of the themes of the game are pretty woke. The villains are almost always people who use their influence and power to further their corrupt goals. The palace bosses include a gym teacher, art teacher, mafia boss, corporate CEO, and a politician. The CEO runs a fast food company, popular among the youth, as ruthlessly as possible to increase his profit margins. In his eyes, the workers aren’t people but robots who are to be used and discarded. He also has political ambitions, and for those he is not above pimping out his daughter.
The politician is running to take over the country ‘to right the ship’ and set a better course. Ends justify the means for him. He thoroughly corrupts every aspect of the society to climb the political ladder. There is one other boss who is handled differently by the narrative of the game. She is not beaten but does end up joining our heroes. This is the public prosecutor who has lost sight of justice in pursuit of her ambitions. She is not beyond redemption (in fact she is the only boss to be redeemed in the game). As she learns the errors of her ways, he comes around and decides to help bring down the greater evil.
Then there are minor characters such as the parents who look the other way when faced while the coach abuses and molests their children. It reminded me of Sandusky and Jim ‘Gym Shorts” Jordan. There is a principal who coerces a model student into carrying out an investigation which she neither qualified nor comfortable conducting just to secure his position with the politician. There is the lecherous son of influential politician who is a pedophile and a rapist. There is an uncle who only wants custody of her neuro atypical daughter just to make a buck. There’s a doctor who destroys the career of another doctor and jeopardizes the lives of patients in a fit of jealousy. A newspaper editor who shuts down a journalist to protect criminals.
Common theme with all of these characters is manipulation of youth. All these people are parasites who are sucking the life out of the youth to make themselves more successful. This seems to be a common theme in Japan, and I have long wondered why that is so. It can be seen in anime, movies, like Battle Royale, and also in TV shows such as Great Teacher Onizuka.
Is it from the stress of competition? Is it due to the aging population and the resentment the younger generations feel towards the? Does it come from economic inequality? I’m not really sure.
The one thing I’m sure of is I will be playing through Persona 5 again. There are new themes and more characters to discover here, and I can not wait to get back into it.
04-23-20202
After spending a little over one hundred and six hours I have finally finished Persona 5. There isn’t much I can thin of saying at the moment.
The final boss was hard as nails. The battle was long, tedious, and a little unfair. The end game had one more subversion to dole out. The god here was the destroyer and demon was the savior. This is in line with the theme of the heroes. They are all outcasts who are out to save the society from those who are supposed to be the paragons protecting the society.
The Hero gets to say good bye to everyone who maxed out the confidant level, which adds another incentive to max out all the possible confidants.
If there is any game I would have a chance to get platinum in, Persona 5 would be it.
4-26-2020
