Jun 12, 2022

Adventures of a new, old gamer

Level 1: Funstration. Days 3-6
So, great, I’m a teenager again. I have to go to school, do homework, do chores, go to a part time job… Oh, and fight an evil teacher in a castle created in his mind so that he’ll admit to hitting the kids on the volleyball team he coaches. Just a normal few days in Persona 5 Royal. It’s fair to say this is an evolution from the ‘run right and shoot things’ games I used to play on consoles. There have been some major changes to how P5R plays. Finally, the vast swathes of exposition (engaging as they were) have slowed a little, and the game has become more interactive and player-led. I got my first mission about five hours in, with two weeks in which to build up strength and inventory so my team and I could infiltrate this ‘palace’ and fight our way through to steal a treasure that represents our teacher’s heart. It’s fair to say this is pretty dense.

Having looked up a few things, I wish I hadn’t overwritten the save point at which I got the mission, because if I hit a game over I’ll have to rush through those opening few hours again. Fingers crossed I can beat this palace, then use a smarter save strategy. The first thing I did on day 3, following some Twitter advice, was switch the dialogue in Persona into Japanese. It honestly hadn’t previously occurred to me that this would be an option, I’d just assumed that, given the game was fully translated, there would only be the English soundtrack. Tick off another way in which I’m an idiot when it comes to gaming.

Over these few days, Persona 5 Royal has become more and more of my PS4 diet. I keep getting (I assume) closer and closer to beating the first boss on Spider-Man. I’m trying to follow the on-screen prompts, but I just haven’t mastered the speed, nor the instinct for which button is where, and what combinations I need to execute. I get that the speed is part of both the challenge and the appeal, but if I could slow it by just 10-15%, I’m betting I’d be through this part already.

P5R, even if I weren’t frustrated with Spider-Man, would still keep drawing me back though. Can we talk about the art style? I get a little irritated when, every time I see a reaction to a J Rock track, the first thing out of the person’s mouth is: ‘So, it sounds like an anime’ (and yes, many of the bands have done anime songs, but still, it’s such an unimaginative thing to say). THAT SAID… P5R feels like being given an anime series as a sandbox to play in. I love the 2D animated sequences that form some of the cut scenes, and the all out attack sequences you can trigger during fights. The colours and characters leap dynamically off the screen. The in-game look, which is used for a lot of the storytelling as well as fights and exploration, is equally beautiful. The 3D characters are a little stiffer than their 2D counterparts in dialogue sequences, but come into their own when you’re controlling them. New abilities and tactics are doled out on a regular basis, most usefully hiding and the ability to ambush, which help reduce the prevalence of enemies in the palace.

Now we arrive at Day 6, and I’ve hit my first game over on Persona. Ironically, it happened because I was trying to hide from an overpowered enemy, and it found me.  It’s frustrating because I’ve lost a lot of items I’d collected. I’m now thinking (having also peeked at an online strategy guide in a couple of moments where I’d got stuck) I could have used my time prepping for the palace mission better. I wonder if starting a whole new game and changing a few tactics might be an idea, but wading through the first 3 hours in particular could be a bit of a snooze. I think I’ll give it one more go and see how badly the lost items impact me. I guess the theme of these days is fun and frustration. Funstration. That’s probably as it should be.

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