Something I really dig about the 3rd semester is that it feels almost like the game has “grown up.” Vanilla P5 had very picaresque, rebellious themes that a lot of teenagers (like myself when the game came out) could identify with, it felt like the personification of teen spirit. Whereas this new semester and story has a far more adult tone, where the characters need to actually make mature and critical decisions instead of just simply “beating the bad guys.” Adulthood has responsibilities, and the Phantom Thieves choose to accept that responsibility and fight against a reality that, for all intents and purposes, would massively benefit them. The fact that nearly all the Phantom Thieves move away to pursue their own goals really solidifies this. P5 captured the fiery essence of teenage rebellion and spirit, while P5R captured the essence of growing up, and the bittersweet yet beautiful transition to adulthood.
*SPOILER* An example? When infiltrating the palace, Ryuji finds out that Shido was involved in messing things up for Maruki, he starts to get angry, but then he says "Now's not the time to get pissed off about that." This is RYUJI we're talking about, people!
Something I really digged about Royal is it shows the culmination of the characters development from a couple of rebellious teens to genuine heroes looking forward and not back-- especially in the final confrontation with Maruki where each one of them solidified their own stance and how they choose to live their lives on their own without running away.
Third Semester is probably one of the best additions to any of the modern persona games. It’s even getting praise from the old persona fans and even SMT fans. Bringing peace to all.
I saw a comment in a video that I think summarized the concepts of P5 and P5R really well: P5: If you have the will, you can change the future. P5R:...but not the past.
So... The third semester and Maruki are incredibly important to me. I basically blitzed through Royal when it came out over here, and beat it by mid April. Maruki tugged at my heartsrings, Akechi tugged at my heart strings, Sumire did so too. I didn't want to have to choose between Maruki's reality and actual reality... But I did. I chose to strive through pain and fought Maruki. It was an incredible story that definitely made me cry. 10 days later my dad died in front of me from a heart attack. And through everything that I went through, that my family went through. It would have been so easy for me to despair, to go... Basically vegetative. Every step of the way since though, any time I've been sad or scared for the future, I reminded myself that I'd made my decisions already. So... In a way, Maruki helped me. He made me face those sorts of feelings before I possibly could've been expected to apply them. Persona 5 is a great game on its own, but Royal and the third semester are probably the single most important gaming experience I've ever had. Thank you for the analysis Kamen. It means a lot to hear other people gushing about this game.
My dad died a few months before I ever got the game and I didn't have a way to cope until finishing this game. It gave me the idea that I could recover and didnt have to wallow in my own despair. It's been a year now since he's passed, I'm on my 3rd playthrough of the game, going for the 100% run, and Sophomore years been going well. Love ya dad, and also, hope everyone who sees this is doing well and recovers from there own issues
The man said it but I will repeat it. This game ain't perfect, but it does a freaking amazing job at being... amazing. I have zero regrets for buying it at full price, simply days later after finishing the original Persona 5. Top tier new tracks, the extra stuff they added are pretty cool and the new content is awesome! Simply one of the best JRPGs in my opinion (Obviously Nocturne continues being my all time favorite JRPG, because I'm a fucking masochist and the style the game has still makes me fall in love with it) that still makes me cry. I want to hug Akechi, Kasumi is a cupcake and Maruki is my freaking dad. Thank you, Atlus, for the game and thank you, Karma, for the video.
“Persona 5: Royal is brilliant” Thank you, oh wise Kamen. What more knowledge shall you give to us? That the earth orbits the sun? And the sky is blue? And we need water to live?
Also, dayum, I didn’t catch that Sojiro referenced *censored’s* death long before the third semester, so you’ve definitely got a keen eye. Just goes to show how adept Atlus can be at foreshadowing.
Frr. I just started replaying and caught onto that and I was like. Holy shit. They really throw everything at you in the beginning but we just don’t realize it the first time (I also noticed Maruki walking by after we leave Kamoshida’s palace)
Another detail like that was when you go to the station together with Sumi in that rainy day. She gets a call from her father and explains to you that he offered to go pick her up since it was raining, she even says: "a bit over protective, don't you think?". Of course you already know why he wanted to pick her up on a rainy day, right?
Oziach yeah dude. I remember your rant you posted about p5r. Honestly opened my eyes to how bad that game was. The animation was in point and the transitions were seamless for the video.
Seing you in this video was awesome.This is defenely my favourite part of video and make this part justice.Overall great job for you and Manga and looking foward to see what comes next.
My favorite thing about Royal is that it addresses a lot of unwarranted criticism that the base game got by almost screaming to those people that they didn't understand the message and here's why. I remember tons of people complaining that the Phantom Thieves weren't doing enough and should be making a bigger impact without understanding that if they did so then they would be taking away other's freedom. You know, freedom? The main theme of the entire game!
Lmao. Yea it doesn't necessarily mean it's evil either. I mean this game gives a good gilimpse into a utpoic modern society and it's good hearted. I mean, it's not political in anyway but I find that utpoia's present an interesting philosophical questions. Although this game really only tackled the moral question of forcing it and wether or not trying to save people like that is inherently bad. Especially because maruki isn't a bad man himself. But I like pondering this sorta stuff about utopias and good intentions.
It also answers that complaint a lot of people seemed to have that "but it makes no sense to argue if the PT are doing the right thing! The bad guys need to change!" for basically the same reason. 3rd semester fits like a glove in P5 canon
But the phantom theives are taking way people's freedom by forcing them to change hearts, yusuke says in the final palace that the phantom theives are no different than the chalice because they force people to change regardless of how the individual feels
My GOD this video is brilliant fam, I'm glad this popped in my recommended! I've gotta say your last parting words of the video is something I especially wish people would consider more than anything for P5R. It's not a perfect game, and there are always pros and cons in any medium, but that doesn't make it any less amazing. The journey of the game is incredible, with antagonists and villians throughout the whole game that are so real and relatable to our everyday lives. The storytelling and themes of this game were something that I will take away and hold close to me forever and this video just summarized perfectly as to *why*. Thanks for the great insight and analysis
Third semester is one psychological story. I honestly keep remembering my stepdad whenever I play a Persona game, because I told him about Persona 3 and if I could play it. He said "When you're old enough to understand." Sadly he passed away before we could play one together. Losing him made me feel that the only person who tried to understand me. After that I really couldn't feel anything for awhile, everytime someone tried complementing me, I pushed them away and threatened them like trash and useless beings in my life, which included friends and family. I honestly felt that the only escape was to just end my life. When did try I pretty much had a meltdown on myself calling myself words as selfish, a bastard, and the demon worst than Satan while beating myself up. When my mom's boyfriend wanted to confront me I felt he just wanted to replace him, but he and others healed something I felt could be fixed. But all of them made me have a smile and finally learned that, life is short already short why end it before the best part is over. Although both stepdads are gone(both died for different reasons) I don't want to die, I want to live a future the could have and will see.
That my good friend is what I like to refer to as 'the courage to be a better person' it's not easy to fight, claw, and scramble to climb out of your hole but when you do it feels like a weight is removed from you, everything seems more vibrant, more alive, everything feels more alive, and though I myself am hollow to an extent I feel that that allows me in a sense to better appreciate how wonderful the world can be at times. Don't get me wrong at times it sucks harder than disney pushing out those lion king movies but for every bit of hardship I can guarantee you somewhere down the line you'll find something absolutely wonderful I just know it.
Kamen: *dates Haru* Me: Ah. I see you're a man of culture as well. Also, funny how you mentioned wanting to see the Palace Rulers' backstories to see how they became who they are now. There were unused cutscenes in Royal that was supposed to play when you collect a Will Seed, showing the Ruler when they were younger and how they changed. For Madarame, he was actually a caring master, but when Yusuke's mom had a stroke in front of him, he tried to save her. But when he saw the Sayuri painting, his Shadow self came out and he seemed to change. And in Kamoshida's, he was young and a recent Olympic medalist. He was invited on TV for an interview, and he was somewhat nervous and unsure. He connects with a female reporter about the stresses of public appearances. We don't know what happened between them, but he apparently did something whole drunk and she attempted to report his actions, only for her to mysteriously suffer a mental shutdown. Of course, it was The Conspiracy/Yaldabaoth, but it instills the idea that he won't get in trouble when he does something bad. Someone will protect him/clean up his mess, which is what happens while he's in Shujin.
Nah, if they would have done that, it would have made those assholes way too sympathetic. And even with those, it doesn't excuse them. If at all. Freudian excuse is no excuse, sometimes.
@@ChiefMedicPururu I dunno. To me, it doesn't excuse their actions, but puts things into perspective. And even then, that was well into the past; as when you see them, they've become completely corrupted.
This makes it sound like Yaldy was directly influencing their desires to become corrupt, instead of their desires becoming corrupt of their own volition. The Madarame one doesn't even make sense because he stated himself that he purposefully let Yusuke's Mother die because his first thought was that he could take ownership of the painting without no complications.
There's a line I only got 1 time in Mementos in the 3rd semester where Akechi says (something along the lines of) "I never want to hear the word pancakes ever again" I REALLY hope it was added specifically because of the meme and not because it's what got him found out.
It was definitly the meme, It gotten so popular from the og p5 that even the official voice actor of akechi kept joking about it and so did the other va's so im pretty sure they wanted it to be in the game by asking the devs which is so cool.
SMT fans might hate me for this but I think Persona 5 Royal is a 10/10 game. A lot of people get mad if you praise modern Persona but I think that this game is perfect in both gameplay and storytelling.
P5R is my favorite game of all time. But it's not perfect, however being 10/10 doesn't mean perfection but rather excelling at nearly everything you do with few missteps, and that's P5R to me. Not perfect, but still a masterpiece
For a series so full of quality as the perosna/SMT games, I never understood how defensive and aggressive everyone gets, to the point that they need to bash other games to make their favorites seem better. I guarantee that when SMTV comes out, the smt fanbase will break into a civil war
I always interpreted Maruki reaching for the snowflake in the end to symbolize him still trying to desperately reach for that perfect, beautiful world in his dreams, crystalized and given form. Only to then grasp it and turn it around in his palm to reveal it's nothing but plain water in the end. No matter how perfect or painless a world he invisioned, in reality, it's nothing but a lie he kept telling himself and only now fully sees the truth.
I feel sorry for everyone who passed on this game for some reason or another. This game, its characters, and its message... they'll stick with me forever. Maruki is my favorite antagonist of all time and Akechi officially claimed a spot as one of my favorite characters ever.
It's hard for me to consider him a villain, I was genuinely torn during the 3rd Semester because of his beliefs and because I really liked him. Like, the answer itself is an easy one to make but at the same time it deals with an idea I've wrestled with long before P5R. Man, that entire finale was amazing imo, you could feel the desperation in Maruki refusing to give up. The fights weren't hard but they succeeded in making it feel like things were desperate, imo.
There is an unused cutscene of Royal which shows Yusuke's mother's death and how Madarame refused to help her. It was suposse to trigger when you collected one of the Will seeds in his palace. Wouldn't it be cool if each will seed showed how each palace owner came to be how they are?
Another thing I would like to add to this is how the game demonstrates the biggest flaw in Maruki's reality through Kasumi. Although Maruki creates a reality where everyone's wishes are granted it ignores the simple fact that sometimes what people want is not good for them. I feel almost everyone would agree that sumire trying to change her own mind into believing she is her dead sister is a very bad thing. Everyone except Maruki who is so obsessed with the idea of removing suffering from people that he probably thinks it is a worth while trade. As humans we need to learn who we are through those who will stand by us and teach us about ourselves and we can't learn if we don't suffer and grow. We can't always focus on what we want, but what we need to live our best lives. I really loved P5R even with its faults and this was an amazing video that really captured why it's so special to me. Thank you
Plus there's also what happens to Shido and Kamoshida. In the 3rd semester, it becomes clear that Maruki's reality is not objective, and just based on the opinion of one man. Okumura is alive and well because Haru wants that even though he was willing to sell her into marriage to an abuser, Madarame is now a loving teacher because Yusuke wants that despite knowing the man let his mother die, and Ryuji is back on the track team even though they all proved themselves to be fair weather friends who abandoned him for something that wasn't his fault. Then you have Shido, who is the only one punished for his crimes by being in prison, and Kamoshida idk faded from existence. At that point I was like oh! This reality is arbitrary as hell!
As much I love Royal, i do wish they kept the cutscenes that were planned for the game. The scenes that would have explained why Kamoshida and Madarame were the way they were. And the scene with Akechi
Yeah, despite loving all of these game’s additions and definitely not taking them for granted, if there’s one *small* thing I wish P5R also included, it’s flashbacks of each palace’s rulers life after collecting all their Will Seeds. It’d not only allow you to understand how they became who they are better, but give more incentive to get them as well.
I disagree Most of the palace owner's back stories are actually shown in the story Madarame wasn't getting the money needed to become an artist Mafia guy was getting bullied for being "too weak" Futaba's and Maruki's story is woved into the palace so no Yaldo simply comes from the desire for humans to be trapped Only 2 out of the 8 palaces "need" a backstory and one of the two is just to show the player how bad does someone's distortion cause them to be (guess which of the two that is) While I do think it is an ok idea, I don't think it would work for most of the palace as the player themselves tend to find out the story pretty easy As for Akechi, they most likely wanted to keep it open book. We have no idea what Akechi is doing (or we didn't) so it would have been a nice surprise to see what he was doing after P5S (since he isn't in Scramble oof)
Unknown Redacted I disagree with you. We don’t know what events led to the situations of the palace owners. Sure we know Madarame needed money, but what events drove him to that and became the man who used even the child he took in for monetary gain. We don’t know what happened to Kaneshiro that put him into the mafia and led him down the path of becoming the ruthless boss we see him as, we just know he got pushed around. Yaldabaoth isn’t a palace ruler, so much as he is a false god humans made up for order (like how Futaba’s mother was the sphinx) For the other two, it doesn’t matter how evil they are, I’d like to know more about them. What made Shido the prideful man who thought he was the one above all in Japan. What made Kamoshida the perverted angry ex-Olympic athlete that we see as a volleyball coach. There’s always more to a story than “not enough money” as something had to have happened. Let’s look at how they handled Okumura. We knew what happened to him. As at the end of the palace, Haru explains that before him the family company wasn’t doing well at all. Her grandfather was also not very wise, and lended money out without worrying about people paying him back, causing debt collectors to be a constant presence. So Okumura decided that he would make sure his family would have the money and nice things he always wanted as a child. That original cause turned into the unholy greed that, to him, justified the abuse of employees and using Shido and Akechi as a means to kill off opponents. If they did that for every palace owner, it would be much better.
@@poolturtle5772 we don’t need to know what events led them to the way they were because those events don’t matter and shouldn’t matter. Just the knowing that there was a reason is more than enough even though none of it went explored. It’s why Akechi is such a bad character. Because people excuse his actions simply because they went deeper with his sob story
I agree heavily, P5R is an absolute masterpiece and you basically covered everything on why I love the 3rd semester. I also love how they made Akechi a better fleshed out character and made his relationship with Joker/Akira more special. Kasumi's story is also very well written, however, I agree that Maruki is one of the best antagonists of the persona series. They made his arc really special and close to many, including myself. I still believe Adachi is the best in regards to the villain category, however, I do agree that the 3rd semester was done beautifully. I would love to see a video sometime with your opinion regarding Adachi. I absolutely love his character and even if he's a asshole, I really understand him on a personal level and I think you doing a video on him would be awesome. Just a suggestion though
It very much is. P5R holds a very special place in my heart. Persona 4 Golden is special in its own right too, but this just did that little bit more for me. My all time favorite game!
seven why does no one ever describe the games this way in criticism because that’s literally the only way it kind of falls short if you were to compare it to say Persona 2 or SMT Nocturne. The (Hashino Persona) games hold back a lot for the final arcs so that when you look at how batshit a game like Persona 2 is you kinda feel let down even though they are all phenomenal games (P5R is still my favorite game of all time)
I like how they improved Akechi in Royal. In vanilla P5 he felt like wasted potential to draw more parallels with Joker. But in Royal you actively have to decide to interact with him, and the new confidant scenes help make his character more tragic in some way. Even when you already know he's the traitor, these scenes just hit harder because It's like a glimpse into how they could've been genuine friends under different circumstances.
It's because he doesn't feel like he's in service of the plot anymore. The main problem with vanilla Akechi was that he was a vehicle to plot progression. Even though he was interesting, even though his motives made sense, he only seemed to exist when the plot needed him. But Royal's confidant make him a real character, and not only makes his death more meaningful to us, it makes it more meaningful to the PTs.
23:22 whats interesting about this comment is that people have datamined royal and found several deleted scenarios including backstory for palace rulers and how they ended up where they were now, they were tied to the will seeds so each time the team got one they would see a flashback of the palace ruler and the experiences that led to their distortions, i really wish atlus didnt cut these scenes out as they would have made the palace rulers (outside of sae and futaba) way more interesting and fleshed out characters.
A few things before I get into the gushing: 1. 4:07 I recognize that oinka video any day, don't think you can pull one on me >:P 2. You don't _need_ to max Akechi to get third semester (though you do need it to get his third persona and a certain version of the post-credits scene). That said, I think doing so makes for the optimal version of the story and I totally get why the misconception exists, since Joker grieving for him is hard-coded into third semester and his confidant is the main thing that establishes their relationship. 3. If you're familiar with how actual counseling works, Maruki is actually quite bad at his job to the point where I seriously wonder how he got licensed. For more on this see ThoughtBubble's series analyzing each teammate's sessions with him (he's a psych student and it shows), but the most glaring failure is Sumire: throughout third semester and the second half of her confidant, Sumire is shown to have deep-seated feelings of inadequacy, devaluing herself and idealizing her sister to the point of thinking Kasumi would've been totally fine if their positions were reversed. Instead of addressing those self-destructive feelings, _the same feelings that led to Kasumi's death in the first place,_ he chooses to enable them by altering her mind so that "Sumire" has perished and her impossibly perfect version of Kasumi is walking around with no issues. Even with only one year of high school psych under my belt, I distinctly remember how deeply upsetting it was to watch: a girl who loathes herself to the point of _begging_ for personality death is "cured" with...personality death, and neither of them see anything wrong with this until you and the gang personally drag her kicking and screaming out of her own personal hell. And now for my take: A lot of works make use of the 'lotus eater machine' trope (to use the tvtropes name), and it's almost always taken as a given that leaving it is the right decision. Usually though, when it appears, the justification for leaving is that it's clearly unsustainable, or a trap to stall the heroes while the villain does something unmistakably reprehensible. P5R is the first work I've seen that frames the artificial paradise as wrong _in itself._ While I tend to cringe when someone on reddit goes 'Maruki did nothing wrong unironically' (some clowns didn't watch the deadline ending and it shows), I totally get the man's worldview. I think a lot of people misguidedly regard hardship as being justified by potential growth, rather than growth being a necessary response to hardship, and while that's valid in some cases, not all hardship is created equal; being art blocked and struggling to crawl out of it is a very different animal from being abused by your mentor/adoptive father and needing to redefine your worldview outside of those deadening confines. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' doesn't apply when something...actually does kill you. If his reviving the dead wasn't contingent on the warping of other people, I'd honestly find it hard to call that a bad thing. However, Maruki is not a perfect arbiter of how things should be. Again, Sumire. He treats all difficulty with the same weight (there's two students at your school who are perpetually fretting over exams until one day they start conveniently acing everything with no effort), he's prone to surface-level fixes (Sumire...again), and he has a shaky grasp on the value of people's autonomy, as shown by his willingness to warp people and their lives into unrecognizability (Ushimaru + Yusuke's artblocked friend) and his 'but ACKSHUALLY' response when the gang tells him they didn't ask for his meddling (while he's not entirely off the mark...yikes). There probably never can be a perfect arbiter who could be trusted with such complete control over others' fates, which is why people need to be allowed to help themselves on their own power. I'm with Akechi when he says it wouldn't be a worthwhile existence for the dead either, as they don't *really* get a new lease on life so much as just become props in someone else's vision of how things should be. To accept the life Maruki offers you is to reject the value of the life you _did_ live, a life where _you_ shaped yourself and the world around you. It postulates that an imperfect existence and a worthwhile one are incompatible, when the challenge of living is to love and value it _despite_ how shitty the world can often be. We in the real world can never magick away all our suffering and mistakes, but to say our lives are devalued because of those things improves nothing and is only an expression of nihilism. It's very P3, and I couldn't stop comparing it thematically to the point where in some ways third semester feels more in line with _that_ game than vanilla P5.
To be fair, his failure as a counselor was meant to be a hint as to what he is and his goals- instead of working through their pain, he actively encouraged them to try their best to ignore it, to entertain the idea of what you want with as little pain as possible. Now, what did he do during the new year?
I went crazy with planning my confidant and stat rank ups so when January came about I had so much free time. That I only had to finish Sumire and get everyone's 3rd tier.
@@darkstorm2579 I did do guides for the confidant answers and how many points are between each rank up for the stats but thats about it. I'd already had two play throughs on p5 so I knew not to waste time. Royal though does give u a lot of help with the new days that arent sleep locked and the extra stuff you can do in LeBlanc. I do admit I was worried I wouldn't be able to get Akechi maxed as it took forever for my Knowledge to max out. But I was able to get him with time to spare
@@roxan_1314 I was worried that I wouldn't be able to max everyone out because I messed up a bit while following the guide but I had a lot of free time in November and December, so I was able to finish everyone's Confidants and max out my social stats.
@@darkstorm2579 Haru was the last one I finished and I maxed her out the day before you have to go to the Depths. Well actually Sumire was the last I finished in January but of everyone else Haru was the last
In the end, destroying Maruki ambition and stealing his heart has torned me apart, and that's why I love it so much. I knew his actions weren't evil, and it would probably make a better world in the end, but it just didn't feel right. Pain is a part of life, even if it hurts. And still, I could not stop crying as I crushed a genuine wish to make humanity better. The third semester brought a new life to Persona 5, and, in doing so, it made this game much more special to me.
P5R is a masterpiece. Though, I feel like we meed more PT interactions without them being PTs. I want to know your opinion this, but I feel like the members have limited time with each other and how they interact compared to like the SEES and Investigation Team (bear in mind, I have limited interactions with those respective games). Like I'm a sucker for funny moments. Here's hoping Scramble gets an English localization.
The entire tone shift in January really caught me off guard, much like how Persona 3 did. The one thing that just made me put my controller down for a few minutes was when Okumura said "my daughter's happiness is my own after all." The line wasn't even voiced and most players probably didn't spend too much time thinking about it but that really hit me on the inside, because you know... Okumura would never say that about Haru...
I appreciate you for opening up a little bit about your loss in your personal life. I've recently experienced loss as well, and seeing stories that acknowledge that sometimes the pain IS too much really has me thinking about what my response would be if given a choice like the one presented here. Hearing that you keep going (as cliche as it sounds) despite the pain is really helpful and encouraging.
I love the song that plays when you're on the staircase heading up to the Maruki boss battle ❤️❤️ the game really hit home for me and i love playing it so much more than the original
Too many checkmates and not enough broken tvs, 0/10 Kidding aside, great editing and video on you too! . Wholeheartly agree on the themes of Royal, and Maruki might be my fav persona villian of all time. Oh and hope things are getting better for you kamen, dont give up
When he was talking about “throw away your mask” I feel like it’s both maruki and joker talking. The majority of the song is maruki talking to Sumire, telling her that she doesn’t have to live with the pain hence the “ you won’t need to strive for greatsness, believe in me, that you don’t need to suffer from anything” then there comes a much softer chorus which I believe is joker talking to sumire “ You can throw your mask away No more pretending you've been tied down for the longest of the time be free you deserve better you should forever be free” and I feel like that’s joker talking to sumire, telling her that she doesn’t have to pretend to be Kasumi anymore, that she doesn’t need to be tied down to her past, that instead of always having that constant feeling of guilt, she deserves better. And through out the rest of the game, you show sumire just that, that she can over come the hardship of losing her sister, and that she can be happy.
Sumire deserves better… because one Palace with her isn’t enough. But then I thought, do I really want someone on the team who has been living a lie for almost a year? Or personal ties to the previous Palace Rulers besides Maruki?
I haven’t played the last of us. The 2nd from what I saw makes you second guess yourself with the whole Abby thing because she killed Joel. To some it does and others it doesn’t. This game does it right. The whole time you are meant to second guessed yourself even though you know it’s bad. Leading up to taking down Maruki, I didn’t want to go through with it. This guy was my friend and I understood where he was coming from. That’s how you create a perfect antagonist.
Royal made Akechi one of my favorite characters in gaming, period. I connect with him in a lot of ways. The only persona characters who even get close to Akechi in my book is Joker, Yu Narukami, and Kotone Shiome, and that's just cause they are protagonists who are all bad ass in their own ways, and I connected with them as I played. And as for Maruki: he was a much needed change of pace in the story. He filled a niche I didn't even realize needed filling.
First, let me say, I'm sorry for your loss. I feel that. It has been 13 years now since I lost an important person, and it still hurts every year. I was extremely thankful for Royal to have taken a mature look on these topics. And even though some games make me tear up, I usually don't really cry. But Royal? Man, I bawled at several points in the game. It felt personal, and like a journey that was my own alongside the kids.
God I loved this game it’s something I really needed after 2019 and the revile of my abusive mother her death opined my eyes to just how much I didn’t have a life outside of another’s desire so yes that semester hit like a blonde with a steamroller
Okay I just want to see some kind of communication between Adachi and Maruki. One wants to erase whole world because of loneliness (and pain at some point). And the other want to rewrite the world because of the same reasons but not for himself but for others. That's so interesting. Like... Ultimate hate and egoism against ultimate care and altruism. Not sure that I got my point fully here but still.
Honestly, while there are some flaws with Royal, like you'll find in every game, in the end, it was almost exactly what I hoped they'd do ever since I played vanilla P5. Most of all, quality of life improvements. I can't imagine going back to vanilla P5 now that I've played with the improvements to the battle system, more voiced scenes, expansion in content and reworking of Akechi's confidant. Which is a major point imo. Originally, he annoyed me. Not bc his character was boring or something, but bc they showed us too little interaction to really care and justify why he's equal to Joker. He was supposed to be the rival, yet you saw him maybe 3 times and then he dumps that Shido stuff on you and you're like, "okay, I should care about this, shouldn't?" - a thought the game has planted somewhere when meeting him, to ultimately fail conveying due to never giving you the chance to actually spend necessary time with him. Which brings me to a problem I had when playing again, this time not wanting to romance Kasumi. She is pushed in your face quite obviously. It's not bad per se, since she is an interesting character, highly relatable even. Who doesn't know the stress of crushing expectations? Yet, I found myself annoyed (2nd playthrough) that they almost steered you into romancing her. It felt a bit unfair to the other characters that didn't get such obvious notions since their confidants didn't change from vanilla; therefore stayed purposely vague until you decide to get in a relationship with one of them. And in the end, even if you romance her, your last encounter is like you two never really interacted. She passes you by, barely noticing your existence. Yes, probably to keep it so that it isn't awkward of you don't romance her, but it is super awkward and confusing IF you actually do. On to the third semester and the last palace. Oh man, the last palace. I still get tears in my eyes hearing the theme. "Gentle Madman" - it is so fitting, so utterly sad and disturbing because you know why it's called that the further you explore. Heck, you even know before, since you need Maruki's confidant to unlock it. So, naturally, you've learned about his sentiment. This fucker makes you want to pat him on the back while tagging along his research during the other semesters; by being so seemingly helpless and clumsy, yet competent enough. But you realise pretty quickly that he's kinda a terrible psychiatrist/counselor the way he crosses lines several times that you shouldn't cross with a client. (Not to mention when you actually see the flashback sessions with Kasumi) So, there I was,fresh out of bawling my eyes out bc Akechi came back on Christmas to turn himself in, then magically gets out (thanks, Maruki) and we enter the palace. The music starts paying, and I know that I've signed up for major sadness. Something about tranquill, melancholic piano music in Persona makes you uncomfortable, bc, in a palace, this can't be a good sign. And it absolutely isn't. Man, this fucker still makes you want to pat him on the back for all the pain he has endured, but at the same time I wanted to punch him in the face for being so stubborn that he wouldn't see a world without pain doesn't exist. Or else we'd all just end up in stagnation. Pain is a catalyst, as much as it is paralysing. Through suffering, we must evolve and learn to face strives. Then grow. We'd never grow without obstacles. Most of them come with certain suffering. It sucks, we all hate it at some point. But Maruki, my man, he is mad. Gentle But mad. And that's what makes his character amazing. He never meant harm. Yet through that exact sentiment, he caused so much more pain and suffering. I felt like the villain for having to destroy my teammates' dreams when I had to wake them up from them. It was genius, Atlus, it hurt. And that was the point, I'd say. To see how fragile it was. Also, the final battle. The song. Oof, I am tearing up while thinking of "Throw Away Your Mask" and the lyrics ,paired with how Maruki tries to convince everyone one at a time during battle. At first it is sad, but it becomes tedious when you stay in battle, which is genius imo. It's as if you feel the frustration the gang must feel going against him, when they clearly feel sympathy towards Maruki. But are annoyed of his stubborn antics. I have cried during the credits, something I seldom do when paying games. Only a few have made me cry as hard as P5 Royal in the end. Sorry for the long post.
My only real complaint about the third semester is that there was a moral level behind it that didn't really get screen time. Like, somewhere in Tokyo, some poor family on the verge of being evicted from their home went to bed one night and awoke to find their troubles had ended. Someone with a terminal cancer diagnosis would have awoken to find their health restored. Restoring reality means consigning these people to misery and death, which they do mention, but which would have been a good thing to have them actually directly and visibly grapple with. It's easy to say "struggle helps us grow!" when you're all still teenagers, still at the point in life where adversity is strengthening you, rather than actively killing you. Granted, the ultimate moral of the third semester was gonna be a hard sell to my nihilistic ass, anyway. I consider reality fairly devoid of any redeeming quality, so damn near any alternative would be preferable to me. XD
I loved your commentary at the end felt so heartfelt and sincere it made me shed some tears. Thank you for you both sharing your thoughts about this part of the game, truly amazing yet it ends so quickly.
Great video as always Kamen! And I also wouldn’t be truthful if I said that last portion of the video didn’t give me major feels... Anyways, after beating P5R last summer, I was truly blown away in the third semester. Especially since I didn’t really have high expectations going into it, as I feel like Atlus’s handled new story content (Persona 3 FES with The Answer) or characters (Persona 4 Golden with Marie) rather poorly in their “definitive” versions of their games. And yet Royal delivers in spades with the third semester, which adds a complex moral dilemma, something that I felt was sorely lacking from the base game. It brings the question that if you could erase or forget all the pain and loss you’ve endured, would you choose to do so? And despite not accepting Maruki’s reality either, as our hardships make us stronger and define who we are (such as the lack of a father figure in my life while growing up), I’ll admit that there are people close to me that I’ll have to come to terms with losing one day, despite being almost terrified at the thought. And I’d be lying if I’d say I wouldn’t want a magical reset button once that day inevitably comes. But moving on, Maruki is by far my favorite Persona antagonist due to how real and relatable he feels. Ad a great as a villain as Adachi is, Maruki feels like the natural evolution to him since despite also wishing for humanity to be blind to the truth and live in woeful ignorance, his actions come from a place of warmth and compassion rather than hatred and apathy. As for the flexible redhead herself, Kasumi, I didn’t initially think much of her, but MAN, the third semester truly twisted my perspective of her in a way that I haven’t felt with any fictional character beforehand. Her fight was definitely painful since she decided to harm her own senpai that she looks up to just to remain in blissful ignorance, which just shows how strong her pain is. And yet it’s in confronting said pain and not deciding to be Sumire or live as Kasumi, but combine both their aspects to be the best version of herself she can be, that undoubtedly made her my favorite female P5 character. Well, second favorite, since Futaba still exists. And last but definitely not least, P5R actually improved one of P5’s most glaring issues, that being how Akechi’s character arc was severely rushed. But now with his reworked confidant and role in the third semester, you get to know him as a character far more, and I especially love and respect how he rejects Maruki’s reality despite benefiting from it the most because he not only no longer wants to have his life dictated by others, but is no longer ashamed of hiding who he truly is as well. Anyways, I’ve rambled on long enough lol. In the end, P5R’s third semester is some of the best Persona story content we’ve gotten in a *long* while, and definitely makes me more than excited for what Atlus has in store for an inevitable Persona 6. (Also, slight correction, but you actually don’t need to finish Akechi’s confidant to get the third semester. Or Kasumi’s, even. Really, all you need to do is max out Maruki’s confidant. But maxing out Akechi’s does add a bonus scene in the ending, along with being the only way to unlock his third tier Persona, Hereward.)
I can't stress enough how this game changed my life. I had no goals in life but after I played this game I became motivated to change myself for the better and even go study for psychology! I could talk about how great this game is and never get bored of doing it. I will never forget the great time I had with the game, time passed in a blink of an eye. I spent 100€ for this game but what it gave me was priceless. I know that no one will ever see this comment but I this was my chance to express how I feel about this masterpiece.
I think everyone that says Maruki was in the right should actually do his dungeon and get to the examination room. How your life is fixed is not based on what's best for you, it's based on what HE SUBJECTIVELY BELIEVES IS BEST FOR YOU. You're given a quiz section and the way to get through it with no fights is to answer in the way you think Maruki would answer the questions (and if you do it all 3 times you're declared perfect and are in no need of adjustment). If you go through the door of a different answer, even if the option you picked seems like a morally correct choice, you meet a shadow whose job is to brainwash you into seeing the world from his pov. Everything, EVERYTHING Maruki bases his life on is avoiding pain to yourself. The very first question is you see your friend about to be hurt by someone else. Do you >interfere and protect your friend, even though you might be hurt in the process or >go and get a teacher/cop even though your friend might be hurt in the meantime, but you'll be fine Do you know why B is considered the right answer to Maruki? Purely because YOU'LL be ok so that's what truly matters. And here's the thing, even Ryuji points out that from a moral standpoint, both answers are valid. There's nothing saying that getting in-between will guarantee your friend's safety so going to get an authority figure may increase the odds of him being ok. But that's just it, whether your not your friend turns out ok is irrelevant to what Maruki is asking, he just wants you to be someone that will avoid pain to yourself.
One of my favorite things that is never out right stated though highly implied about Maruki is that through his grief he searched for ways to handle it and came across Mormonism, I have a whole reddit thread that goes in depth about this if anyone wants my proof, and after learning how the core concept of the religion is that you can be together with those you love through eternity even after death he did a deep dive into the religion. It's here he starts to realize that the power he has been granted can be used to create such an idea and through that his Messiah complex forms. I got examples of this from Maruki's ideology to his palace to the outfits he wears in the Metaverse. Edit: Forgot to add the great irony in the fact that Mormonism has a large focus on agency and freedom of choice in how one lives their life.
The best thing Royal does for Persona 5 is definitely Maruki. Shido was ok as a main antagonist as he headed the corrupt system the Phantom Thieves wanted to rebel against. But he wasn't all that fleshed out. And Yaldabaoth was just another evil god that we needed in that Persona checklist. But Maruki is much more complex than either and has incredible nuance. You understand his motivations clearly, and can even sympathize with them. But, what makes him great is he stands to these ideals consistently, to the point even at the very end, he only wants to "save" you. He is definitely one of the best (or the best) Persona antagonists.
The main reason I love persona 5 is because my whole life I dealt with the corruption of the world with my education being messed with, people using me a their tool and if I’m not need to toss me away like trash, and with my brother recent death, which the police didn’t even investigate. It makes me believe I can do something, It reminds me that I can’t just stand around while others people are causing people pain.
Something i noticed for the first time while watching this footage, spoilers btw, when maruki starts to fall after you and him fight, his glasses fall off before you catch him. The lenses he had seen the world through were gone, as hehad to look at everything differently. The first of which, was you, joker, the one who has been defying maruki this entire time. He finally starts to see it your way, because his vision isn't distorted.
Also, count this as a confession and successful change of heart, his last words before reality reverted: Your eyes are… as bright and honest as ever, you keep your head up, no matter what. I must have always been… afraid. Afraid you and I wouldn’t wish for the same reality.
Good analysis! The only point I would have added is how the "true" ending (where joker goes home) changes. To be clear, I think the way the original way the game ended perfectly. After everything those kids went through, I'm glad they were able to go on a nice road trip. And there's honestly something kinda magical about being young and going on a road trip. You feel like you're a rebel taking on the world, and given that the thieves aren't literally doing that anymore, it's nice to convey that the spirit of rebellion is still with them. Plus, I love the way it incorporates the opening theme song by having it play on the radio, but that's neither here nor there. When I first saw the new ending, I honestly felt a bit off. It wasn't nearly as happy with the characters saying goodbye earlier, and they even do a little tease about Akechi being alive maybe that felt a little sequel-baity. But when I saw the other ending where you choose to live in the altered reality, it all clicked. The new ending wouldn't have worked if it was just as happy; it has to be bitter sweet. Fighting Maruki does not feel triumphant; it feels like you're making the tough choice to deal with the harsh real world. One where people do drift away, and where the future is mysterious. In that sense, I look back at the Akechi tease and think that the ambiguity is the point. We will never know if he's truly alive or not because the future is uncertain. Just as we don't know if Joker truly saw his mask, or if it was his imagination. I also like how in the credits, none of the scenes with our characters show them being super successful (again, to contrast the altered reality ending). We see Ann grab a fashion magazine and instinctively assume she's going to turn a page to see herself in there, but no. Every character is struggling, but still preparing to move on no matter how difficult. Anyhoo, the point is it's all great; and if I had one nitpick, it's that they don't incorporate "colours flying high" as smoothly in the ending as they did with "Wake up/Get Out there"
I've felt so conflicted about that ending. Not just because I loved Maruki, but... The subject of Real/Ideal run so deep for this game. It's just a shame that when you think about where these characters would be without the powers to change hearts, it makes the PT's look more like stubborn idealists. If they couldn't change Kamoshida's heart, Mishima and Ryuji would be expelled; Akira as well, who would be kicked out by Sojiro and sent to Juvenile Hall. Futaba would NEVER break free from the thoughts clouding her heart and mind, and she'd already resigned herself to the idea of dying. Yusuke would be tossed out like trash by Madarame, just like he did with all the other students who failed to turn in quality artwork to him; And without his passion for Art, Yusuke would have nothing to live for. Makoto would still have to look into the Kaneshiro case alone, and I'm not gonna get into where that could land her or her sister in time. Same with Ann, who'd have to continue contending with Kamoshida alone after what happened with Shiho. Also Haru, who would still eventually be sold off by her father to that scumbag Sugimura as a trophy wife. And Akechi would likely be killed off either by the cognition of him giving him a mental shutdown, or by Shido's wealth of power and authority by the government like he said he was. It's only thanks to their ability to change the hearts of the assholes in charge that they can accept the challenge of adversity and promise to grow from it; Because without it, they wouldn't have made it past the first chapter.
There’s a reason why people want the game to go multiplatform. I mean if Persona 4 Golden could get a port on Steam that did well, I don’t see why they shouldn’t do a port of Persona 5 Royal for the Switch and PC since it could do really well. Also if it did get a ports to other systems I could see these be costumes exclusive to the ports. Switch Ren - Mario Morgana - Yoshi Ryuji - Luigi Ann - Peach/Daisy Yusuke - Waluigi Makoto - Daisy/Peach Futaba - Rosalina Haru - Wario Goro - Popple Kasumi - Pauline PC Ren - Soldier Morgana - Medic Ryuji - Scout Ann - Pyro Yusuke - Sniper Makoto - Heavy Futaba - Engineer Haru - Demoman Goro - Spy Kasumi - Miss Pauling
Probably because P5 port would be much more difficult to make than P4 one. They might have something else to put efforts in that will be more profitable. It's buisness
What makes Maruki's persona, Azathoth even more fitting for him is that it is said that because Azathoth is the most powerful out of all the outer gods or old ones. Is because it can literally manifest its dreams into a reality. There's a saying that we are all part of Azathoth's dream, and we live because he sleeps, hence why he's also called, the Blind-Idiot God and if he were to awaken, we'd all disappear in an instant. This further ties into Maruki of being able to distort reality as it is because of Azathoth's power and honestly makes him in a way terrifying, especially since he literally has the power of a freaking god at his disposal. It also furthers states as to why Maruki could end up taking the place of Yaldabaoth, the God of Control and be the new god.
Honestly i suffered alot from depressiom lately and Persona kinda helped me with understanding people including myself more, loved everything about it, the characters, the music, the gameplay, the story, the voiceactors are on point, it's really a 10/10, actually became my favourite game, and i never played a persona, yet any jrpg before this
Something I never really thought about until I played Royal was how Persona 5 focuses on growth through adversity. The base game also features this, but Sumire is the character that made me realize this, and despite your thesis, I think the game acknowledges that in the "real word," there is room for aspects of Maruki's philosophy and that of the PTs. Sumire, by her own admisssion, tells Joker that had it not been for Maruki, she would have never found the strength to carry on. I think Futaba is also like this - a person that needed a miracle to even have the strength needed to go through life. But with Sumire, we see the effects of both Maruki's philosophy and that of the PTs in effect; she finds the strength to continue living as Kasumi, but her personal development is stunted once she has outgrown that Persona. Maruki's "miracle" gets her back up on her feet and makes her feel ready to live again, but when confronted with the reality that Kasumi died saving her, she reaches a low that she would have never gotten over by herself, she needed Joker and the rest of the PTs to yet again find her footing as Sumire, face her challenges, and overcome them. It was a great touch that Kasumi says that society could grow weak and complacent if they relied too much on the PTs, and I'm sad that we never know if those are what she thinks are Kasumi's thoughts, or if they're her own, but just as society has to learn to deal with things without the PTs, so does the world have to deal with things without Maruki's guidance. This is a point I've rarely seen brought up, but I think that in the end, Maruki may have ended helping more people than depriving others of personal growth; think of the people that are just living life one day, and the next they find out they have a horrible disease. 2020 has made me appreciate my health a lot, so maybe that's why I'm more sympathetic to him. But whatever the case, I think the game makes the case that a person sometimes needs a miracle, or luck, or whatever you want to call it, to find the strength to live life. All the PTs needed their Persona powers to awaken, they need their network of friends. They overcome adversity yes, but like with anything, I think there is a limitation to willpower. You mentioned overcoming some very dark times yourself, but I think that in real life, humans do have a breaking point. I think you hit a very low point in your life, but at times, only a miracle can help you get by.
The third semester breaks my heart and really talks to me on a personal level for one reason. I've been bed bound on and off since 2013, full time since 2015 due to suffering from chronic centeral sensitization, basically CS prior trauma (both physical and mental) has 'caused my body to retaliate in the form of dealing with chronic pain that is both hyper sensitive to both motion and touch. The reason the third semester really speaks to me is because if I was given the oppertunity to escape my CS in the form of maruki's reality. I couldn't look you in the eyes and say I wouldn't be swayed by his offer, given the oppertunity to run from this pain. I honestly think I'd take it
You aren't wrong for saying yes to that offer, It's a dilemma because both are morally right! Hell, I'd take the offer too! It's just which ideal you believe in at the end of the day in this one little dilemma: If you had the power to rewrite reality, Would you use it to fix people's problems and overall make them happier but deny what growth would have happened before leaving some feeling empty or incomplete even with the help or would you refuse to use it to allow people to experience such problems and grow as people but condemn those who can't to a certainly terrible fate? Both have big consequences, Both choices aren't wrong. If you believe in either Ideal, You aren't wrong.
Before talking about my favorite part of Royal I wanna say why I and many other people like Kamoshida over many other palace rulers. Mostly because unlike the other ones he is the most present one. We have animated cutscenes with both him and his shadow self, his authority over the school is something we see through basically every npc and we are forced to live with him, hell we can even talk to him if we so desire. At least for me, he felt much more pressuring than Mr.Mafia Dude, Darth Burger Lord and Madarame. Ok, moving on! My favorite part of the game as a whole? Akechi. The third semester clearly wanted to show us the good, the true good inside this ruthless guy. But why do I like this boy so much? Weeeeeeell - Unlike many other edgelords in media, Akechi... Is not a complete edgelord. Yes he doesn't really care about the Phantoms except for Joker, yes he calls them "Absolute fools" but he will never be like "Tisk tisk I don't have the time to hang out with you" or "hmp, I am not talking to my team." On the contrary he is the one who wants to cooperate, will often start conversation and he is visibly hurt by the fact that the thieves doesn't want him around. Sure it is cool to see some badass character giving one line that has many meanings, but it's refreshing to see the Dark Rival trope being open about their feelings and thoughts. - His overall relationship with Joker and how Royal changes even the smallest detail. While I didn't play the original P5 I digged on it a little thanks to this wonderful red website. In the base game, just before the boss fight, he becomes a typical villain "that will show his true power" and blah blah blah. But here? His "fun little idea" is about finishing what he started with Joker, making it much more personal for them and for the player. Not only that but in the third semester, Akechi shows signs of great trust in Joker. He is deeply, deeply dissapointed and wounded if we accept Maruki's world and most of all, he doesn't care about showing his true self. On a lesser scale, this is what happens in real life to some people. It's easy to show a perfect mask of ourselves, while it's much harder to show our true feelings and flaws. Akechi showing his more brutal and blunt side means that he feels comfortable enough around Joker, that he truly considers him a friend. - How admirable he is. Yes, Black Mask, the most batshit insane boss in the game shows a truly admirable side in the last part of the game. Why? Well, let's think about what the thieves do. All of them, including Joker, had some doubts about stopping Maruki before realizing that they truly want to. Cool, right? They will embrace their life and issues. But what about Akechi? This guy has everything to lose. Not just his public image or happiness, but his whole life. There is a very real chance that he will die after the new reality gets destroyed. And he doesn't care. He always hated being manipulated, he wanted to make his own choices and if refusing a reality where someone has plans for him will end his life, Akechi will go and die as a free man, with unmatched will and resolution. And I... I am conflicted about his fate. Part of me wishes that Akechi survived and will be present in future games because he deserves a second chance, but another part of me wishes that he... Stayed dead. That is what makes sense for his character, to be remembered as the young man who stayed true to his ideals and proudly faced death with no remorse whatsoever. My only grip with 3rd Semester Akechi is how... Underwhelming he is as a playable character. He doesn't have boost or amp skills so he is basically a weaker Ryuji/Yusuke who cannot inflict status to the enemeis. Almighty Boost/Amp would have been perfect for him! I mean he is Black Mask for crying out loud, the one that is stated to be far, far more powerful than all of us. C'mon Atlus...
My personal head canon about the balancing issue for Akechi’s abilities are that Joker and the PT’s went through such a power scaling boom in Mementos Depths that they reached or even surpassed his strength rendering him an average party member.
Third semester's Akechi is not even real. He died in Shido's Palace. He is just a creation made from Joker and Maruki's cognition about him. His confidant is IMO the best addition to the game, but his part in the last section of the game is pretty much what Joker would have wanted him to be. As for his gameplay power level... That is to not overpower the rest of the game although he has elemental advantage against most enemies in the first stage of the dungeon, right unti you get Sumire to take that space.
@@lokasocba This cognitive Akechi thing is so bullshit, everyone who says that never payed attention to the story. Regardless of whenever Akechi truly died on Shido's palace (it varies if you get the post credit scene or not) in the original reality, what happens in third semester is not fake because Maruki's world is effectively real. Wakaba and Okumura are said to be real, they never died. Just like Akechi, they are not copies with memories of the original people, they're the original people. Not overpower the rest of the game you say? That doesn't mean making Akechi, the one who outclassed six experienced Persona users and an even stronger wild card, so weak in comparison to said six character. One thing is to balance him, another thing is to negate him good damage options. He's the only one who doesn't get Boost/Amp skills for seemingly no reason.
@@maverick5169 That "cognitive bullshit" is the base of Maruki's power. The change in reality is given because everyone perceives the world as Maruki and themselves want it. Even in the new world, Sumire's parents call her "Sumire" and that's why Joker perceives a glitch when he meets his father.
There is actually cut content where you can see Kamoshida, Maderame, and Okumura’s pasts and why they became the way they were similar to Maruki’s VHS tapes
I think the one biggest missed opportunity of Royal and the Third Semester was to have had Rumi snap out of her own false reality after Maruki's defeat, but like Sumire ends up having had the time to better process her past and be able to move forward on her own, afterward. That would also allow her to remember Maruki and seek him out to reassure him. Even if they don't end up getting back together, Maruki deserved that much closure.
I remember some people hating on Akechi in the og P5 and said that there was no way they could redeem his character. And morally, they didn't. They did the exact opposite and I love it.
Never has an antagonist made me question if what I was doing was wrong. Especially hearing the desperation from Sumire after Joker chooses to reject Maruki's reality. That hit me hard.
When I saw the first will seed I thought it would lead to a flashback that would show why Kamoshida became the way he was. Small moments that planted the "seed" for his palace
What really made the battle against Maruki hurt for me was that the basis of his argument is correct. Sometimes, the world does unjustly put far more pain on an individual than they can handle, resulting in a total shutdown as we saw with his girlfriend. If he had been talked to in time, and trained, his power could be used with a more personal and discriminating touch to help people who have become too traumatized to be able to overcome their pain. Hell, he could’ve even had his own spinoff operation going where he can change the hearts of victims of pain like Futaba so that they can have the tools to move forward, and even collaborate with the Phantom Thieves for individuals like Sae who were victims that became antagonistic in response to pain. It’s such an impactful fight to me because it could have been avoided and led to so much more for everyone.
I loved this video, and i agree on all points except for one. You mentioned that the reality was forced upon the phantom thieves, but i feel like thats debatable. If i remember correctly, the only reason why Maruki got the power to change reality is because the phantom thieves deep down wanted that escape, to be happy. At the very least i think thats arguable a subconscious decision.
If i'm not mistaken the new royal content was written without the direction of the series longtime director who has left working on persona games, something he's done since 3. I think the fact the new royal content manages to keep the good parts of the original game and characters while adding more emotional depth and moral questions bodes well for the series. Something I hope they do in 6 is make our protagonists a little older. The high school simulator is fun but I would really love a college aged MC or even young adult.
So I knew this was a man of culture based off the first 10 min of the video. But then, he went further beyond and spent Christmas with Haru. This man truly know what’s up
This game has become an important part of my life. The Persona series intrigued by interest with 5. And it's the best decisions I've ever made! Right now I just can't see how Persona 6 can ever top the popularity and importance that is P5
I went into this agreeing with Maruki but now I'm just so 50/50, the thing is yes they developed from their pain. But, there are people who literally don't get that chance, some are born just to die at a young age or end up with mental illnesses that are impossible to overcome through will. I think, I would prefer some place in the center. Like, the most terrible tragedies are gone but you aren't just given a world of complete happiness, there's still room for growth. But of course that's not an option
On the faith thing, yaldabaoth isn't god , but a demiurge, even the so called "angels" aren't the real thing , but Twisted shadows, i don't thing atlus has something against chirstianity like some coments that i've heard people speak
Yeah, even in SMT4A which while butchering the original 4's conflict to force Neutral as the only valid path, they went out of their way to specify more than any other SMT that YHVH is a corrupted avatar of God and not the actual being who is known as the Great Will/Axiom. I think where the Atlus hates Christianity misconception comes from, coupled with the misconception YHVH is God, is Law is assumed to be all about blind obedience to YHVH and a loss of free will, even though in all but one game that isn't the case, instead it being about Utilitarianism. (Law characters also always turn on YHVH if he deviates from what Law wants) In the one game that actually was the case, (SJ) Chaos also took away free will and in the remake it was revealed that Law's change in behavior was due to a new female entity that was also responsible for imprisoning YHVH, who is good in this version, in the new game +. (fittingly he takes Demiurge's form)
Persona 5 : steals my heart
Me : nothing can top this
Persona 5 royal : wanna see me do it again ?
I sold my kidney to buy this game. Persona 5 stole my heart, persona 5r stole my kidney
And P4G melted your heart lol
ATLUS with Persona 5: Wanna see me make the best JRPG of all time?
ATLUS with P5: Wanna see me do it again?
@@lildrawhub1025man you're fucking exaggerating persona 5 is one of the worst megaten
@@ofilosofoouumfumante5655
Boomer shu up
Something I really dig about the 3rd semester is that it feels almost like the game has “grown up.” Vanilla P5 had very picaresque, rebellious themes that a lot of teenagers (like myself when the game came out) could identify with, it felt like the personification of teen spirit. Whereas this new semester and story has a far more adult tone, where the characters need to actually make mature and critical decisions instead of just simply “beating the bad guys.” Adulthood has responsibilities, and the Phantom Thieves choose to accept that responsibility and fight against a reality that, for all intents and purposes, would massively benefit them. The fact that nearly all the Phantom Thieves move away to pursue their own goals really solidifies this. P5 captured the fiery essence of teenage rebellion and spirit, while P5R captured the essence of growing up, and the bittersweet yet beautiful transition to adulthood.
Perfectly worded.
I have been thinking the same thing but didn't know how to say it
*SPOILER*
An example? When infiltrating the palace, Ryuji finds out that Shido was involved in messing things up for Maruki, he starts to get angry, but then he says "Now's not the time to get pissed off about that."
This is RYUJI we're talking about, people!
Something I really digged about Royal is it shows the culmination of the characters development from a couple of rebellious teens to genuine heroes looking forward and not back-- especially in the final confrontation with Maruki where each one of them solidified their own stance and how they choose to live their lives on their own without running away.
@@dripgodragna4266 Even when it hurts like hell. And yes, that is a PS4 Spider-Man reference.
Third Semester is probably one of the best additions to any of the modern persona games. It’s even getting praise from the old persona fans and even SMT fans. Bringing peace to all.
Because it helps the narrative, compared to the base P5.
Not all sadly. I see people saying that Maruki's palace is exactly like Persona 1.
@@Yugi3344
That's BS. Wish fulfillment plots isn't unique to P1.
Not all smt fans hate persona in fact I love both series and the franchise as a whole
@@wolfied.s.t1890 agreed
I saw a comment in a video that I think summarized the concepts of P5 and P5R really well:
P5: If you have the will, you can change the future.
P5R:...but not the past.
P5 is about the justice and conviction of the situation, p5r is about the suffering and growth of the situation.
So...
The third semester and Maruki are incredibly important to me. I basically blitzed through Royal when it came out over here, and beat it by mid April. Maruki tugged at my heartsrings, Akechi tugged at my heart strings, Sumire did so too. I didn't want to have to choose between Maruki's reality and actual reality... But I did. I chose to strive through pain and fought Maruki. It was an incredible story that definitely made me cry.
10 days later my dad died in front of me from a heart attack. And through everything that I went through, that my family went through. It would have been so easy for me to despair, to go... Basically vegetative. Every step of the way since though, any time I've been sad or scared for the future, I reminded myself that I'd made my decisions already.
So... In a way, Maruki helped me. He made me face those sorts of feelings before I possibly could've been expected to apply them. Persona 5 is a great game on its own, but Royal and the third semester are probably the single most important gaming experience I've ever had.
Thank you for the analysis Kamen. It means a lot to hear other people gushing about this game.
I'm so sorry to hear that, glad to know that you're doing well now
I’m also sorry to hear that, take care of yourself.
Sorry for your loss, hang in there and may your father Rest In Peace
My dad died a few months before I ever got the game and I didn't have a way to cope until finishing this game. It gave me the idea that I could recover and didnt have to wallow in my own despair. It's been a year now since he's passed, I'm on my 3rd playthrough of the game, going for the 100% run, and Sophomore years been going well. Love ya dad, and also, hope everyone who sees this is doing well and recovers from there own issues
The man said it but I will repeat it. This game ain't perfect, but it does a freaking amazing job at being... amazing. I have zero regrets for buying it at full price, simply days later after finishing the original Persona 5. Top tier new tracks, the extra stuff they added are pretty cool and the new content is awesome! Simply one of the best JRPGs in my opinion (Obviously Nocturne continues being my all time favorite JRPG, because I'm a fucking masochist and the style the game has still makes me fall in love with it) that still makes me cry.
I want to hug Akechi, Kasumi is a cupcake and Maruki is my freaking dad. Thank you, Atlus, for the game and thank you, Karma, for the video.
No. No hugs.
@@goroakechi6126 *You can't stop me for wanting to hug you, pancake boi*
Igor Alencar
*LEAVE ME ALONE, ISN’T SHIPPING ME WITH JOKER ENOUGH FOR YOU ASSHOLES?!?*
Goro Akechi no my dear Persona User, you must be shipped with everyone
Phil Lemon
‘Everyone’ implies you want to ship me with Futaba as well...And that’s another person to kill on my list.
“Persona 5: Royal is brilliant”
Thank you, oh wise Kamen. What more knowledge shall you give to us? That the earth orbits the sun? And the sky is blue? And we need water to live?
lol
Don't you mean air?
watcher ofmemelords no, I mean water. Hydration is a necessity:
@@poolturtle5772 Water literally would not exist without air. It has an oxygen molecule.
mattwo7 Okay, But I’m still correct. You need water.
Also, dayum, I didn’t catch that Sojiro referenced *censored’s* death long before the third semester, so you’ve definitely got a keen eye. Just goes to show how adept Atlus can be at foreshadowing.
Also Maruki catching a glimpse of the PTs escaping Kamoshida’s palace on treasure day.
I didn't catch that Sojiro detail until my second playthrough. It was pretty cool.
I got it my first playthrough i knew it would be like the sister of the new girl but that twist tho I could have never imagined it
Frr. I just started replaying and caught onto that and I was like. Holy shit. They really throw everything at you in the beginning but we just don’t realize it the first time (I also noticed Maruki walking by after we leave Kamoshida’s palace)
Another detail like that was when you go to the station together with Sumi in that rainy day. She gets a call from her father and explains to you that he offered to go pick her up since it was raining, she even says: "a bit over protective, don't you think?". Of course you already know why he wanted to pick her up on a rainy day, right?
Persona 5 Royal is a treasure in my book
So if we steal it will that make atlus's palace disappear?
watcher ofmemelords Maybe or mine...
Ohh yeah same here I love persona 5 very much but I am still stuck with Okumura boss fight its impossible
@@jessicajohnson2412 imagine getting stuck on the old okumera palace.
@@watcherofmemelords7967 no that’s a fact
Imagine liking Persona 5 Royal. Couldn't be me.
...wait.
Oziach yeah dude. I remember your rant you posted about p5r. Honestly opened my eyes to how bad that game was. The animation was in point and the transitions were seamless for the video.
It was so cool seeing you in this video. I love your content, man.
@@homophobesblowcock3297 ❤
Seing you in this video was awesome.This is defenely my favourite part of video and make this part justice.Overall great job for you and Manga and looking foward to see what comes next.
Ahh, the best boi content creators in 1 comment section
My favorite thing about Royal is that it addresses a lot of unwarranted criticism that the base game got by almost screaming to those people that they didn't understand the message and here's why. I remember tons of people complaining that the Phantom Thieves weren't doing enough and should be making a bigger impact without understanding that if they did so then they would be taking away other's freedom. You know, freedom? The main theme of the entire game!
Lmao. Yea it doesn't necessarily mean it's evil either. I mean this game gives a good gilimpse into a utpoic modern society and it's good hearted. I mean, it's not political in anyway but I find that utpoia's present an interesting philosophical questions. Although this game really only tackled the moral question of forcing it and wether or not trying to save people like that is inherently bad. Especially because maruki isn't a bad man himself. But I like pondering this sorta stuff about utopias and good intentions.
It also answers that complaint a lot of people seemed to have that "but it makes no sense to argue if the PT are doing the right thing! The bad guys need to change!" for basically the same reason. 3rd semester fits like a glove in P5 canon
But the phantom theives are taking way people's freedom by forcing them to change hearts, yusuke says in the final palace that the phantom theives are no different than the chalice because they force people to change regardless of how the individual feels
@@benjoman8252 And that's why they stop doing it and get rid of the metaverse.
The phantom thieves were meant to steal hearts in the whole world katsura hashino changed the story for last minute and that's why
My GOD this video is brilliant fam, I'm glad this popped in my recommended! I've gotta say your last parting words of the video is something I especially wish people would consider more than anything for P5R. It's not a perfect game, and there are always pros and cons in any medium, but that doesn't make it any less amazing. The journey of the game is incredible, with antagonists and villians throughout the whole game that are so real and relatable to our everyday lives. The storytelling and themes of this game were something that I will take away and hold close to me forever and this video just summarized perfectly as to *why*.
Thanks for the great insight and analysis
Agreed CrystAAHHL.
I agree completely!
oh hey
"Akechi is the victim we couldn’t save"
i was just watching you before watching the royal endings and clicking this
Third semester is one psychological story. I honestly keep remembering my stepdad whenever I play a Persona game, because I told him about Persona 3 and if I could play it. He said "When you're old enough to understand." Sadly he passed away before we could play one together. Losing him made me feel that the only person who tried to understand me. After that I really couldn't feel anything for awhile, everytime someone tried complementing me, I pushed them away and threatened them like trash and useless beings in my life, which included friends and family. I honestly felt that the only escape was to just end my life. When did try I pretty much had a meltdown on myself calling myself words as selfish, a bastard, and the demon worst than Satan while beating myself up. When my mom's boyfriend wanted to confront me I felt he just wanted to replace him, but he and others healed something I felt could be fixed. But all of them made me have a smile and finally learned that, life is short already short why end it before the best part is over. Although both stepdads are gone(both died for different reasons) I don't want to die, I want to live a future the could have and will see.
That my good friend is what I like to refer to as 'the courage to be a better person' it's not easy to fight, claw, and scramble to climb out of your hole but when you do it feels like a weight is removed from you, everything seems more vibrant, more alive, everything feels more alive, and though I myself am hollow to an extent I feel that that allows me in a sense to better appreciate how wonderful the world can be at times. Don't get me wrong at times it sucks harder than disney pushing out those lion king movies but for every bit of hardship I can guarantee you somewhere down the line you'll find something absolutely wonderful I just know it.
@@watcherofmemelords7967 Thank you, this is worth more than any gemstone in the world
Ok, but. Maruki is right and we are all wrong for one reason!
He saves the old dog!
Kamen: *dates Haru*
Me: Ah. I see you're a man of culture as well.
Also, funny how you mentioned wanting to see the Palace Rulers' backstories to see how they became who they are now. There were unused cutscenes in Royal that was supposed to play when you collect a Will Seed, showing the Ruler when they were younger and how they changed. For Madarame, he was actually a caring master, but when Yusuke's mom had a stroke in front of him, he tried to save her. But when he saw the Sayuri painting, his Shadow self came out and he seemed to change.
And in Kamoshida's, he was young and a recent Olympic medalist. He was invited on TV for an interview, and he was somewhat nervous and unsure. He connects with a female reporter about the stresses of public appearances. We don't know what happened between them, but he apparently did something whole drunk and she attempted to report his actions, only for her to mysteriously suffer a mental shutdown. Of course, it was The Conspiracy/Yaldabaoth, but it instills the idea that he won't get in trouble when he does something bad. Someone will protect him/clean up his mess, which is what happens while he's in Shujin.
Nah, if they would have done that, it would have made those assholes way too sympathetic. And even with those, it doesn't excuse them. If at all. Freudian excuse is no excuse, sometimes.
Scramble does this with characters that you want to sympathize with but what they do causes you to second guess that
@@ChiefMedicPururu I dunno. To me, it doesn't excuse their actions, but puts things into perspective. And even then, that was well into the past; as when you see them, they've become completely corrupted.
@@ChiefMedicPururu How would that have made them sympathetic in the slightest? If anything, it would make Kamoshida even scummier.
This makes it sound like Yaldy was directly influencing their desires to become corrupt, instead of their desires becoming corrupt of their own volition. The Madarame one doesn't even make sense because he stated himself that he purposefully let Yusuke's Mother die because his first thought was that he could take ownership of the painting without no complications.
There's a line I only got 1 time in Mementos in the 3rd semester where Akechi says (something along the lines of) "I never want to hear the word pancakes ever again"
I REALLY hope it was added specifically because of the meme and not because it's what got him found out.
It was definitly the meme, It gotten so popular from the og p5 that even the official voice actor of akechi kept joking about it and so did the other va's so im pretty sure they wanted it to be in the game by asking the devs which is so cool.
Wait... The reason it got memed is *because* that's the way he got found out.
The 2 things are inseparable. The meme didn't come from nowhere.
@@AtrumDelorox 🥞
SMT fans might hate me for this but I think Persona 5 Royal is a 10/10 game. A lot of people get mad if you praise modern Persona but I think that this game is perfect in both gameplay and storytelling.
Yeah, but screw them
P5R is my favorite game of all time. But it's not perfect, however being 10/10 doesn't mean perfection but rather excelling at nearly everything you do with few missteps, and that's P5R to me. Not perfect, but still a masterpiece
For a series so full of quality as the perosna/SMT games, I never understood how defensive and aggressive everyone gets, to the point that they need to bash other games to make their favorites seem better. I guarantee that when SMTV comes out, the smt fanbase will break into a civil war
It's my favorite Megaten game too, and I still love mainline. Ignore all the negativity.
@@salsamonkey65 ikr, they can coexist
I always interpreted Maruki reaching for the snowflake in the end to symbolize him still trying to desperately reach for that perfect, beautiful world in his dreams, crystalized and given form. Only to then grasp it and turn it around in his palm to reveal it's nothing but plain water in the end. No matter how perfect or painless a world he invisioned, in reality, it's nothing but a lie he kept telling himself and only now fully sees the truth.
I feel sorry for everyone who passed on this game for some reason or another. This game, its characters, and its message... they'll stick with me forever. Maruki is my favorite antagonist of all time and Akechi officially claimed a spot as one of my favorite characters ever.
Same. Maruki is amazing
It's hard for me to consider him a villain, I was genuinely torn during the 3rd Semester because of his beliefs and because I really liked him. Like, the answer itself is an easy one to make but at the same time it deals with an idea I've wrestled with long before P5R.
Man, that entire finale was amazing imo, you could feel the desperation in Maruki refusing to give up. The fights weren't hard but they succeeded in making it feel like things were desperate, imo.
Fox Die he’s an antagonist, but not a villain.
You idiots don't know what a good villain is.
yungbreezy36 Bruh. As someone who’s seen a lot of crappy and well written villains, I can confidently say Maruki is a good antagonist.
There is an unused cutscene of Royal which shows Yusuke's mother's death and how Madarame refused to help her. It was suposse to trigger when you collected one of the Will seeds in his palace.
Wouldn't it be cool if each will seed showed how each palace owner came to be how they are?
Another thing I would like to add to this is how the game demonstrates the biggest flaw in Maruki's reality through Kasumi. Although Maruki creates a reality where everyone's wishes are granted it ignores the simple fact that sometimes what people want is not good for them. I feel almost everyone would agree that sumire trying to change her own mind into believing she is her dead sister is a very bad thing. Everyone except Maruki who is so obsessed with the idea of removing suffering from people that he probably thinks it is a worth while trade. As humans we need to learn who we are through those who will stand by us and teach us about ourselves and we can't learn if we don't suffer and grow. We can't always focus on what we want, but what we need to live our best lives. I really loved P5R even with its faults and this was an amazing video that really captured why it's so special to me. Thank you
Plus there's also what happens to Shido and Kamoshida. In the 3rd semester, it becomes clear that Maruki's reality is not objective, and just based on the opinion of one man. Okumura is alive and well because Haru wants that even though he was willing to sell her into marriage to an abuser, Madarame is now a loving teacher because Yusuke wants that despite knowing the man let his mother die, and Ryuji is back on the track team even though they all proved themselves to be fair weather friends who abandoned him for something that wasn't his fault.
Then you have Shido, who is the only one punished for his crimes by being in prison, and Kamoshida idk faded from existence. At that point I was like oh! This reality is arbitrary as hell!
@@ButterflyScarlet I mean who cares about them
As much I love Royal, i do wish they kept the cutscenes that were planned for the game. The scenes that would have explained why Kamoshida and Madarame were the way they were. And the scene with Akechi
I would’ve loved to know why they are the way they are
Yeah, despite loving all of these game’s additions and definitely not taking them for granted, if there’s one *small* thing I wish P5R also included, it’s flashbacks of each palace’s rulers life after collecting all their Will Seeds. It’d not only allow you to understand how they became who they are better, but give more incentive to get them as well.
I disagree
Most of the palace owner's back stories are actually shown in the story
Madarame wasn't getting the money needed to become an artist
Mafia guy was getting bullied for being "too weak"
Futaba's and Maruki's story is woved into the palace so no
Yaldo simply comes from the desire for humans to be trapped
Only 2 out of the 8 palaces "need" a backstory and one of the two is just to show the player how bad does someone's distortion cause them to be (guess which of the two that is)
While I do think it is an ok idea, I don't think it would work for most of the palace as the player themselves tend to find out the story pretty easy
As for Akechi, they most likely wanted to keep it open book. We have no idea what Akechi is doing (or we didn't) so it would have been a nice surprise to see what he was doing after P5S (since he isn't in Scramble oof)
Unknown Redacted I disagree with you. We don’t know what events led to the situations of the palace owners. Sure we know Madarame needed money, but what events drove him to that and became the man who used even the child he took in for monetary gain.
We don’t know what happened to Kaneshiro that put him into the mafia and led him down the path of becoming the ruthless boss we see him as, we just know he got pushed around.
Yaldabaoth isn’t a palace ruler, so much as he is a false god humans made up for order (like how Futaba’s mother was the sphinx)
For the other two, it doesn’t matter how evil they are, I’d like to know more about them. What made Shido the prideful man who thought he was the one above all in Japan. What made Kamoshida the perverted angry ex-Olympic athlete that we see as a volleyball coach. There’s always more to a story than “not enough money” as something had to have happened.
Let’s look at how they handled Okumura. We knew what happened to him. As at the end of the palace, Haru explains that before him the family company wasn’t doing well at all. Her grandfather was also not very wise, and lended money out without worrying about people paying him back, causing debt collectors to be a constant presence. So Okumura decided that he would make sure his family would have the money and nice things he always wanted as a child. That original cause turned into the unholy greed that, to him, justified the abuse of employees and using Shido and Akechi as a means to kill off opponents. If they did that for every palace owner, it would be much better.
@@poolturtle5772 we don’t need to know what events led them to the way they were because those events don’t matter and shouldn’t matter. Just the knowing that there was a reason is more than enough even though none of it went explored. It’s why Akechi is such a bad character. Because people excuse his actions simply because they went deeper with his sob story
I agree heavily, P5R is an absolute masterpiece and you basically covered everything on why I love the 3rd semester. I also love how they made Akechi a better fleshed out character and made his relationship with Joker/Akira more special. Kasumi's story is also very well written, however, I agree that Maruki is one of the best antagonists of the persona series. They made his arc really special and close to many, including myself. I still believe Adachi is the best in regards to the villain category, however, I do agree that the 3rd semester was done beautifully. I would love to see a video sometime with your opinion regarding Adachi. I absolutely love his character and even if he's a asshole, I really understand him on a personal level and I think you doing a video on him would be awesome. Just a suggestion though
It very much is. P5R holds a very special place in my heart. Persona 4 Golden is special in its own right too, but this just did that little bit more for me. My all time favorite game!
In my opinion, all of the Persona games are amazing.
ChiefMedicPururu a bad persona game doesn’t exist. Sure, we can say which games are the weakest or worst, but even those games are still great.
I'd call persona 4 and 5
"tame"
never bad, always great, just tame compared to the others
great either way
@@marrowyoutube One of the best criticisms of the games👍
seven why does no one ever describe the games this way in criticism because that’s literally the only way it kind of falls short if you were to compare it to say Persona 2 or SMT Nocturne. The (Hashino Persona) games hold back a lot for the final arcs so that when you look at how batshit a game like Persona 2 is you kinda feel let down even though they are all phenomenal games (P5R is still my favorite game of all time)
‘I believe’ is like a fusion of last surprise, take over, and life will change
The thumbnail features Maruki so I can already tell you’ve got good taste.
I like how they improved Akechi in Royal. In vanilla P5 he felt like wasted potential to draw more parallels with Joker. But in Royal you actively have to decide to interact with him, and the new confidant scenes help make his character more tragic in some way.
Even when you already know he's the traitor, these scenes just hit harder because It's like a glimpse into how they could've been genuine friends under different circumstances.
It's because he doesn't feel like he's in service of the plot anymore. The main problem with vanilla Akechi was that he was a vehicle to plot progression. Even though he was interesting, even though his motives made sense, he only seemed to exist when the plot needed him. But Royal's confidant make him a real character, and not only makes his death more meaningful to us, it makes it more meaningful to the PTs.
Adam Kadmon can be summed up in one sentence.AND HERE COMES A GIANT FIST!!!
Nooo
Or: *One Puuuuuuuunch!!!*
I wonder if a fall from this height would be enough to kill me 😑
I just hear Pfiell und Bogen, personally XD
PATRICK NOOOO
23:22 whats interesting about this comment is that people have datamined royal and found several deleted scenarios including backstory for palace rulers and how they ended up where they were now, they were tied to the will seeds so each time the team got one they would see a flashback of the palace ruler and the experiences that led to their distortions, i really wish atlus didnt cut these scenes out as they would have made the palace rulers (outside of sae and futaba) way more interesting and fleshed out characters.
A few things before I get into the gushing:
1. 4:07 I recognize that oinka video any day, don't think you can pull one on me >:P
2. You don't _need_ to max Akechi to get third semester (though you do need it to get his third persona and a certain version of the post-credits scene). That said, I think doing so makes for the optimal version of the story and I totally get why the misconception exists, since Joker grieving for him is hard-coded into third semester and his confidant is the main thing that establishes their relationship.
3. If you're familiar with how actual counseling works, Maruki is actually quite bad at his job to the point where I seriously wonder how he got licensed. For more on this see ThoughtBubble's series analyzing each teammate's sessions with him (he's a psych student and it shows), but the most glaring failure is Sumire: throughout third semester and the second half of her confidant, Sumire is shown to have deep-seated feelings of inadequacy, devaluing herself and idealizing her sister to the point of thinking Kasumi would've been totally fine if their positions were reversed. Instead of addressing those self-destructive feelings, _the same feelings that led to Kasumi's death in the first place,_ he chooses to enable them by altering her mind so that "Sumire" has perished and her impossibly perfect version of Kasumi is walking around with no issues. Even with only one year of high school psych under my belt, I distinctly remember how deeply upsetting it was to watch: a girl who loathes herself to the point of _begging_ for personality death is "cured" with...personality death, and neither of them see anything wrong with this until you and the gang personally drag her kicking and screaming out of her own personal hell.
And now for my take: A lot of works make use of the 'lotus eater machine' trope (to use the tvtropes name), and it's almost always taken as a given that leaving it is the right decision. Usually though, when it appears, the justification for leaving is that it's clearly unsustainable, or a trap to stall the heroes while the villain does something unmistakably reprehensible. P5R is the first work I've seen that frames the artificial paradise as wrong _in itself._ While I tend to cringe when someone on reddit goes 'Maruki did nothing wrong unironically' (some clowns didn't watch the deadline ending and it shows), I totally get the man's worldview. I think a lot of people misguidedly regard hardship as being justified by potential growth, rather than growth being a necessary response to hardship, and while that's valid in some cases, not all hardship is created equal; being art blocked and struggling to crawl out of it is a very different animal from being abused by your mentor/adoptive father and needing to redefine your worldview outside of those deadening confines. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' doesn't apply when something...actually does kill you. If his reviving the dead wasn't contingent on the warping of other people, I'd honestly find it hard to call that a bad thing.
However, Maruki is not a perfect arbiter of how things should be. Again, Sumire. He treats all difficulty with the same weight (there's two students at your school who are perpetually fretting over exams until one day they start conveniently acing everything with no effort), he's prone to surface-level fixes (Sumire...again), and he has a shaky grasp on the value of people's autonomy, as shown by his willingness to warp people and their lives into unrecognizability (Ushimaru + Yusuke's artblocked friend) and his 'but ACKSHUALLY' response when the gang tells him they didn't ask for his meddling (while he's not entirely off the mark...yikes). There probably never can be a perfect arbiter who could be trusted with such complete control over others' fates, which is why people need to be allowed to help themselves on their own power. I'm with Akechi when he says it wouldn't be a worthwhile existence for the dead either, as they don't *really* get a new lease on life so much as just become props in someone else's vision of how things should be.
To accept the life Maruki offers you is to reject the value of the life you _did_ live, a life where _you_ shaped yourself and the world around you. It postulates that an imperfect existence and a worthwhile one are incompatible, when the challenge of living is to love and value it _despite_ how shitty the world can often be. We in the real world can never magick away all our suffering and mistakes, but to say our lives are devalued because of those things improves nothing and is only an expression of nihilism. It's very P3, and I couldn't stop comparing it thematically to the point where in some ways third semester feels more in line with _that_ game than vanilla P5.
To be fair, his failure as a counselor was meant to be a hint as to what he is and his goals- instead of working through their pain, he actively encouraged them to try their best to ignore it, to entertain the idea of what you want with as little pain as possible.
Now, what did he do during the new year?
I went crazy with planning my confidant and stat rank ups so when January came about I had so much free time. That I only had to finish Sumire and get everyone's 3rd tier.
Same
I used a guide for my first playthrough so I could max everyone out.
@@darkstorm2579 I did do guides for the confidant answers and how many points are between each rank up for the stats but thats about it. I'd already had two play throughs on p5 so I knew not to waste time. Royal though does give u a lot of help with the new days that arent sleep locked and the extra stuff you can do in LeBlanc. I do admit I was worried I wouldn't be able to get Akechi maxed as it took forever for my Knowledge to max out. But I was able to get him with time to spare
@@roxan_1314 I was worried that I wouldn't be able to max everyone out because I messed up a bit while following the guide but I had a lot of free time in November and December, so I was able to finish everyone's Confidants and max out my social stats.
@@darkstorm2579 Haru was the last one I finished and I maxed her out the day before you have to go to the Depths. Well actually Sumire was the last I finished in January but of everyone else Haru was the last
In the end, destroying Maruki ambition and stealing his heart has torned me apart, and that's why I love it so much. I knew his actions weren't evil, and it would probably make a better world in the end, but it just didn't feel right. Pain is a part of life, even if it hurts. And still, I could not stop crying as I crushed a genuine wish to make humanity better. The third semester brought a new life to Persona 5, and, in doing so, it made this game much more special to me.
3rd semester feels like a truly different game, and so fully realized I love it so much
P5R is a masterpiece.
Though, I feel like we meed more PT interactions without them being PTs. I want to know your opinion this, but I feel like the members have limited time with each other and how they interact compared to like the SEES and Investigation Team (bear in mind, I have limited interactions with those respective games). Like I'm a sucker for funny moments. Here's hoping Scramble gets an English localization.
It will
I think its confirmed
It’s confirmed P5S is coming, we just don’t know when
That one guy Probably going to be an early launch title for Ps5
SoulsFanatic 2020 I doubt it since it was already released on PS4 (as well as Switch) in Japan, but I can see there being a PS5 version later on.
I got to have another date with Takemi so that's enough for me to say that this game is a masterpiece
The entire tone shift in January really caught me off guard, much like how Persona 3 did.
The one thing that just made me put my controller down for a few minutes was when Okumura said "my daughter's happiness is my own after all." The line wasn't even voiced and most players probably didn't spend too much time thinking about it but that really hit me on the inside, because you know... Okumura would never say that about Haru...
I appreciate you for opening up a little bit about your loss in your personal life. I've recently experienced loss as well, and seeing stories that acknowledge that sometimes the pain IS too much really has me thinking about what my response would be if given a choice like the one presented here. Hearing that you keep going (as cliche as it sounds) despite the pain is really helpful and encouraging.
Tbh that title alone is enough for us to agree, ain’t that right bois n lasses
Babybabybabybaby-
StarLight Of MoonSide yeaaaaaaaaaaaa-yeah!
You're looking lively
@@BitchChill door moment
I love the song that plays when you're on the staircase heading up to the Maruki boss battle ❤️❤️ the game really hit home for me and i love playing it so much more than the original
Incredibly late reply but the song is “I believe” on Spotify also
I love Jokers last badass one liner. “Checkmate”
I lost it with this scene 😂
My favourite moment in the game 🔥
That one was great, but I'll still always love "...Begone."
Too many checkmates and not enough broken tvs, 0/10
Kidding aside, great editing and video on you too! . Wholeheartly agree on the themes of Royal, and Maruki might be my fav persona villian of all time.
Oh and hope things are getting better for you kamen, dont give up
When he was talking about “throw away your mask” I feel like it’s both maruki and joker talking. The majority of the song is maruki talking to Sumire, telling her that she doesn’t have to live with the pain hence the “ you won’t need to strive for greatsness, believe in me, that you don’t need to suffer from anything” then there comes a much softer chorus which I believe is joker talking to sumire “ You can throw your mask away
No more pretending
you've been tied down for the longest of the time
be free
you deserve better
you should forever be free” and I feel like that’s joker talking to sumire, telling her that she doesn’t have to pretend to be Kasumi anymore, that she doesn’t need to be tied down to her past, that instead of always having that constant feeling of guilt, she deserves better.
And through out the rest of the game, you show sumire just that, that she can over come the hardship of losing her sister, and that she can be happy.
Sumire deserves better… because one Palace with her isn’t enough.
But then I thought, do I really want someone on the team who has been living a lie for almost a year?
Or personal ties to the previous Palace Rulers besides Maruki?
Persona 5 Royal isn't The REAL Shien Megoomie Tensay Game
Yes it’s something called a....”Shin Megami Tensei” the hell is that!?
Anyways wanna play Straynge jourknee?
I’d rather play Perseouni 2: FQS
Goro Akechi what about Knocturn? Deivul Sammonur? Or maybe Jakk brose
Makoto Yuki
DANGENROPEA
Shien Megoomie Tensay V??? They Tryna copy perosna 5 or smth???
Favorite game of all time. That final boss made me feel things, man.
This game is pretty much the antithesis of TLOU2, and I love how it took risks WITHOUT going too far or having no light whatsoever.
And without stamping all over the themes and characters of the first game as well. If anything, Royal instead enhances and compliments them.
@@amirgarcia547 Exactly.
I haven’t played the last of us. The 2nd from what I saw makes you second guess yourself with the whole Abby thing because she killed Joel. To some it does and others it doesn’t. This game does it right. The whole time you are meant to second guessed yourself even though you know it’s bad. Leading up to taking down Maruki, I didn’t want to go through with it. This guy was my friend and I understood where he was coming from. That’s how you create a perfect antagonist.
@@joegardner851 Except, no, the game wants you to like Abby, despite what she's done.
ChiefMedicPururu I meant to say that. To me they force you to like her but it doesn’t work
Royal made Akechi one of my favorite characters in gaming, period. I connect with him in a lot of ways. The only persona characters who even get close to Akechi in my book is Joker, Yu Narukami, and Kotone Shiome, and that's just cause they are protagonists who are all bad ass in their own ways, and I connected with them as I played. And as for Maruki: he was a much needed change of pace in the story. He filled a niche I didn't even realize needed filling.
39:43 Maruki without glasses in the final boss fight looks like Philemon sort of. I cannot be the only one who thought this
First, let me say, I'm sorry for your loss.
I feel that. It has been 13 years now since I lost an important person, and it still hurts every year. I was extremely thankful for Royal to have taken a mature look on these topics. And even though some games make me tear up, I usually don't really cry. But Royal? Man, I bawled at several points in the game. It felt personal, and like a journey that was my own alongside the kids.
God I loved this game it’s something I really needed after 2019 and the revile of my abusive mother her death opined my eyes to just how much I didn’t have a life outside of another’s desire so yes that semester hit like a blonde with a steamroller
You're a better man than I Kamen. Even 14 years later, I'd gladly take marukis reality. Losing a child is...soul crushing
I’m sorry for your loss, may your child RIP
@@sergiosalazar8702 Thank you very much. I appreciate it
Maruki: Councilor Confidant
Me: *somethin’s wrong, I can feel it-*
Yeah. In the first scene he shows up you can tell he will be the new game's boss.
This video came on as a surprise, to me, but a welcoming one.
Maruki is my favorite character, ever. In any media.
Show me a man who spends Christmas with Haru and I want to smoke cigars with him. If she doesn’t have enough screen time you make some.
Yesss
Right here bro, every playthrough too 😎
"If she doesn’t have enough screen time you make some." Best line ever.
Okay I just want to see some kind of communication between Adachi and Maruki. One wants to erase whole world because of loneliness (and pain at some point). And the other want to rewrite the world because of the same reasons but not for himself but for others. That's so interesting. Like... Ultimate hate and egoism against ultimate care and altruism. Not sure that I got my point fully here but still.
Honestly, while there are some flaws with Royal, like you'll find in every game, in the end, it was almost exactly what I hoped they'd do ever since I played vanilla P5.
Most of all, quality of life improvements. I can't imagine going back to vanilla P5 now that I've played with the improvements to the battle system, more voiced scenes, expansion in content and reworking of Akechi's confidant.
Which is a major point imo. Originally, he annoyed me. Not bc his character was boring or something, but bc they showed us too little interaction to really care and justify why he's equal to Joker.
He was supposed to be the rival, yet you saw him maybe 3 times and then he dumps that Shido stuff on you and you're like, "okay, I should care about this, shouldn't?" - a thought the game has planted somewhere when meeting him, to ultimately fail conveying due to never giving you the chance to actually spend necessary time with him.
Which brings me to a problem I had when playing again, this time not wanting to romance Kasumi. She is pushed in your face quite obviously. It's not bad per se, since she is an interesting character, highly relatable even. Who doesn't know the stress of crushing expectations?
Yet, I found myself annoyed (2nd playthrough) that they almost steered you into romancing her. It felt a bit unfair to the other characters that didn't get such obvious notions since their confidants didn't change from vanilla; therefore stayed purposely vague until you decide to get in a relationship with one of them.
And in the end, even if you romance her, your last encounter is like you two never really interacted. She passes you by, barely noticing your existence.
Yes, probably to keep it so that it isn't awkward of you don't romance her, but it is super awkward and confusing IF you actually do.
On to the third semester and the last palace.
Oh man, the last palace.
I still get tears in my eyes hearing the theme.
"Gentle Madman" - it is so fitting, so utterly sad and disturbing because you know why it's called that the further you explore.
Heck, you even know before, since you need Maruki's confidant to unlock it. So, naturally, you've learned about his sentiment.
This fucker makes you want to pat him on the back while tagging along his research during the other semesters; by being so seemingly helpless and clumsy, yet competent enough. But you realise pretty quickly that he's kinda a terrible psychiatrist/counselor the way he crosses lines several times that you shouldn't cross with a client.
(Not to mention when you actually see the flashback sessions with Kasumi)
So, there I was,fresh out of bawling my eyes out bc Akechi came back on Christmas to turn himself in, then magically gets out (thanks, Maruki) and we enter the palace.
The music starts paying, and I know that I've signed up for major sadness. Something about tranquill, melancholic piano music in Persona makes you uncomfortable, bc, in a palace, this can't be a good sign.
And it absolutely isn't.
Man, this fucker still makes you want to pat him on the back for all the pain he has endured, but at the same time I wanted to punch him in the face for being so stubborn that he wouldn't see a world without pain doesn't exist. Or else we'd all just end up in stagnation.
Pain is a catalyst, as much as it is paralysing. Through suffering, we must evolve and learn to face strives. Then grow. We'd never grow without obstacles. Most of them come with certain suffering.
It sucks, we all hate it at some point. But Maruki, my man, he is mad.
Gentle
But mad.
And that's what makes his character amazing. He never meant harm. Yet through that exact sentiment, he caused so much more pain and suffering.
I felt like the villain for having to destroy my teammates' dreams when I had to wake them up from them. It was genius, Atlus, it hurt. And that was the point, I'd say. To see how fragile it was.
Also, the final battle.
The song. Oof, I am tearing up while thinking of "Throw Away Your Mask" and the lyrics ,paired with how Maruki tries to convince everyone one at a time during battle.
At first it is sad, but it becomes tedious when you stay in battle, which is genius imo. It's as if you feel the frustration the gang must feel going against him, when they clearly feel sympathy towards Maruki.
But are annoyed of his stubborn antics.
I have cried during the credits, something I seldom do when paying games. Only a few have made me cry as hard as P5 Royal in the end.
Sorry for the long post.
My only real complaint about the third semester is that there was a moral level behind it that didn't really get screen time.
Like, somewhere in Tokyo, some poor family on the verge of being evicted from their home went to bed one night and awoke to find their troubles had ended. Someone with a terminal cancer diagnosis would have awoken to find their health restored. Restoring reality means consigning these people to misery and death, which they do mention, but which would have been a good thing to have them actually directly and visibly grapple with. It's easy to say "struggle helps us grow!" when you're all still teenagers, still at the point in life where adversity is strengthening you, rather than actively killing you.
Granted, the ultimate moral of the third semester was gonna be a hard sell to my nihilistic ass, anyway. I consider reality fairly devoid of any redeeming quality, so damn near any alternative would be preferable to me. XD
I loved your commentary at the end felt so heartfelt and sincere it made me shed some tears. Thank you for you both sharing your thoughts about this part of the game, truly amazing yet it ends so quickly.
Great video as always Kamen! And I also wouldn’t be truthful if I said that last portion of the video didn’t give me major feels...
Anyways, after beating P5R last summer, I was truly blown away in the third semester. Especially since I didn’t really have high expectations going into it, as I feel like Atlus’s handled new story content (Persona 3 FES with The Answer) or characters (Persona 4 Golden with Marie) rather poorly in their “definitive” versions of their games. And yet Royal delivers in spades with the third semester, which adds a complex moral dilemma, something that I felt was sorely lacking from the base game. It brings the question that if you could erase or forget all the pain and loss you’ve endured, would you choose to do so? And despite not accepting Maruki’s reality either, as our hardships make us stronger and define who we are (such as the lack of a father figure in my life while growing up), I’ll admit that there are people close to me that I’ll have to come to terms with losing one day, despite being almost terrified at the thought. And I’d be lying if I’d say I wouldn’t want a magical reset button once that day inevitably comes.
But moving on, Maruki is by far my favorite Persona antagonist due to how real and relatable he feels. Ad a great as a villain as Adachi is, Maruki feels like the natural evolution to him since despite also wishing for humanity to be blind to the truth and live in woeful ignorance, his actions come from a place of warmth and compassion rather than hatred and apathy. As for the flexible redhead herself, Kasumi, I didn’t initially think much of her, but MAN, the third semester truly twisted my perspective of her in a way that I haven’t felt with any fictional character beforehand. Her fight was definitely painful since she decided to harm her own senpai that she looks up to just to remain in blissful ignorance, which just shows how strong her pain is. And yet it’s in confronting said pain and not deciding to be Sumire or live as Kasumi, but combine both their aspects to be the best version of herself she can be, that undoubtedly made her my favorite female P5 character. Well, second favorite, since Futaba still exists.
And last but definitely not least, P5R actually improved one of P5’s most glaring issues, that being how Akechi’s character arc was severely rushed. But now with his reworked confidant and role in the third semester, you get to know him as a character far more, and I especially love and respect how he rejects Maruki’s reality despite benefiting from it the most because he not only no longer wants to have his life dictated by others, but is no longer ashamed of hiding who he truly is as well.
Anyways, I’ve rambled on long enough lol. In the end, P5R’s third semester is some of the best Persona story content we’ve gotten in a *long* while, and definitely makes me more than excited for what Atlus has in store for an inevitable Persona 6.
(Also, slight correction, but you actually don’t need to finish Akechi’s confidant to get the third semester. Or Kasumi’s, even. Really, all you need to do is max out Maruki’s confidant. But maxing out Akechi’s does add a bonus scene in the ending, along with being the only way to unlock his third tier Persona, Hereward.)
I can't stress enough how this game changed my life. I had no goals in life but after I played this game I became motivated to change myself for the better and even go study for psychology! I could talk about how great this game is and never get bored of doing it. I will never forget the great time I had with the game, time passed in a blink of an eye. I spent 100€ for this game but what it gave me was priceless. I know that no one will ever see this comment but I this was my chance to express how I feel about this masterpiece.
My favorite part of Royal is how party members appear way before you officially meet them in the story
The hardest truth an ideal hero has to face is that YOU CAN’T SAVE EVERYONE!
I think everyone that says Maruki was in the right should actually do his dungeon and get to the examination room. How your life is fixed is not based on what's best for you, it's based on what HE SUBJECTIVELY BELIEVES IS BEST FOR YOU. You're given a quiz section and the way to get through it with no fights is to answer in the way you think Maruki would answer the questions (and if you do it all 3 times you're declared perfect and are in no need of adjustment). If you go through the door of a different answer, even if the option you picked seems like a morally correct choice, you meet a shadow whose job is to brainwash you into seeing the world from his pov.
Everything, EVERYTHING Maruki bases his life on is avoiding pain to yourself. The very first question is you see your friend about to be hurt by someone else. Do you
>interfere and protect your friend, even though you might be hurt in the process
or
>go and get a teacher/cop even though your friend might be hurt in the meantime, but you'll be fine
Do you know why B is considered the right answer to Maruki? Purely because YOU'LL be ok so that's what truly matters. And here's the thing, even Ryuji points out that from a moral standpoint, both answers are valid. There's nothing saying that getting in-between will guarantee your friend's safety so going to get an authority figure may increase the odds of him being ok. But that's just it, whether your not your friend turns out ok is irrelevant to what Maruki is asking, he just wants you to be someone that will avoid pain to yourself.
One of my favorite things that is never out right stated though highly implied about Maruki is that through his grief he searched for ways to handle it and came across Mormonism, I have a whole reddit thread that goes in depth about this if anyone wants my proof, and after learning how the core concept of the religion is that you can be together with those you love through eternity even after death he did a deep dive into the religion. It's here he starts to realize that the power he has been granted can be used to create such an idea and through that his Messiah complex forms. I got examples of this from Maruki's ideology to his palace to the outfits he wears in the Metaverse. Edit: Forgot to add the great irony in the fact that Mormonism has a large focus on agency and freedom of choice in how one lives their life.
Please show me iy
Ooh, could you show me this?
The best thing Royal does for Persona 5 is definitely Maruki.
Shido was ok as a main antagonist as he headed the corrupt system the Phantom Thieves wanted to rebel against. But he wasn't all that fleshed out. And Yaldabaoth was just another evil god that we needed in that Persona checklist. But Maruki is much more complex than either and has incredible nuance. You understand his motivations clearly, and can even sympathize with them. But, what makes him great is he stands to these ideals consistently, to the point even at the very end, he only wants to "save" you. He is definitely one of the best (or the best) Persona antagonists.
Dr. Smash it’s not an SMT or Persona game without an evil god.
Poolturtle I would be baffled if an Megaten game didn’t end in a fight with some God-like entity.
I think the greatest part of Maruki is that he's so morally ambiguous that i actually AGREED with him, and didn't really want to see the thieves win.
"NOOOO!!!! YOU MUST SUFFER!!!! LE PERSONAL GROWTH YOUR LFIE ONLY HAS MEANING IF EVERY FUCKING SECOND OF YOUR EXISTENCE IS PURE AGONY!!!!"
21:50 Fun fact there is unused scenes of every other palace having this. Their remnants are found in teh whispers you hear in the Will Seed rooms
The main reason I love persona 5 is because my whole life I dealt with the corruption of the world with my education being messed with, people using me a their tool and if I’m not need to toss me away like trash, and with my brother recent death, which the police didn’t even investigate. It makes me believe I can do something, It reminds me that I can’t just stand around while others people are causing people pain.
Something i noticed for the first time while watching this footage, spoilers btw, when maruki starts to fall after you and him fight, his glasses fall off before you catch him. The lenses he had seen the world through were gone, as hehad to look at everything differently. The first of which, was you, joker, the one who has been defying maruki this entire time. He finally starts to see it your way, because his vision isn't distorted.
Yep also cool flip of what the glasses do in Persona 4 as well.
Fun callbacks in Maruki’s palace.
Also, count this as a confession and successful change of heart, his last words before reality reverted:
Your eyes are… as bright and honest as ever, you keep your head up, no matter what.
I must have always been… afraid. Afraid you and I wouldn’t wish for the same reality.
Good analysis! The only point I would have added is how the "true" ending (where joker goes home) changes. To be clear, I think the way the original way the game ended perfectly. After everything those kids went through, I'm glad they were able to go on a nice road trip. And there's honestly something kinda magical about being young and going on a road trip. You feel like you're a rebel taking on the world, and given that the thieves aren't literally doing that anymore, it's nice to convey that the spirit of rebellion is still with them. Plus, I love the way it incorporates the opening theme song by having it play on the radio, but that's neither here nor there.
When I first saw the new ending, I honestly felt a bit off. It wasn't nearly as happy with the characters saying goodbye earlier, and they even do a little tease about Akechi being alive maybe that felt a little sequel-baity. But when I saw the other ending where you choose to live in the altered reality, it all clicked. The new ending wouldn't have worked if it was just as happy; it has to be bitter sweet. Fighting Maruki does not feel triumphant; it feels like you're making the tough choice to deal with the harsh real world. One where people do drift away, and where the future is mysterious. In that sense, I look back at the Akechi tease and think that the ambiguity is the point. We will never know if he's truly alive or not because the future is uncertain. Just as we don't know if Joker truly saw his mask, or if it was his imagination. I also like how in the credits, none of the scenes with our characters show them being super successful (again, to contrast the altered reality ending). We see Ann grab a fashion magazine and instinctively assume she's going to turn a page to see herself in there, but no. Every character is struggling, but still preparing to move on no matter how difficult.
Anyhoo, the point is it's all great; and if I had one nitpick, it's that they don't incorporate "colours flying high" as smoothly in the ending as they did with "Wake up/Get Out there"
I've felt so conflicted about that ending. Not just because I loved Maruki, but... The subject of Real/Ideal run so deep for this game. It's just a shame that when you think about where these characters would be without the powers to change hearts, it makes the PT's look more like stubborn idealists.
If they couldn't change Kamoshida's heart, Mishima and Ryuji would be expelled; Akira as well, who would be kicked out by Sojiro and sent to Juvenile Hall.
Futaba would NEVER break free from the thoughts clouding her heart and mind, and she'd already resigned herself to the idea of dying.
Yusuke would be tossed out like trash by Madarame, just like he did with all the other students who failed to turn in quality artwork to him; And without his passion for Art, Yusuke would have nothing to live for.
Makoto would still have to look into the Kaneshiro case alone, and I'm not gonna get into where that could land her or her sister in time. Same with Ann, who'd have to continue contending with Kamoshida alone after what happened with Shiho. Also Haru, who would still eventually be sold off by her father to that scumbag Sugimura as a trophy wife.
And Akechi would likely be killed off either by the cognition of him giving him a mental shutdown, or by Shido's wealth of power and authority by the government like he said he was. It's only thanks to their ability to change the hearts of the assholes in charge that they can accept the challenge of adversity and promise to grow from it; Because without it, they wouldn't have made it past the first chapter.
True dat, without that power they’d another victims of abuse
Just when I thought this video couldn’t get any better, Oziach came in. Seriously though, this was a great analysis
There’s a reason why people want the game to go multiplatform. I mean if Persona 4 Golden could get a port on Steam that did well, I don’t see why they shouldn’t do a port of Persona 5 Royal for the Switch and PC since it could do really well.
Also if it did get a ports to other systems I could see these be costumes exclusive to the ports.
Switch
Ren - Mario
Morgana - Yoshi
Ryuji - Luigi
Ann - Peach/Daisy
Yusuke - Waluigi
Makoto - Daisy/Peach
Futaba - Rosalina
Haru - Wario
Goro - Popple
Kasumi - Pauline
PC
Ren - Soldier
Morgana - Medic
Ryuji - Scout
Ann - Pyro
Yusuke - Sniper
Makoto - Heavy
Futaba - Engineer
Haru - Demoman
Goro - Spy
Kasumi - Miss Pauling
Akechi being the SPY is a bit... on the nose, wouldn’t you agree?
Poolturtle I know but I think we needed all 9 classes from Team Fortress 2.
MisterZygarde64 we did, just find it interesting how it turned out.
Also Ryuji is, in fact, the scout.
Wouldn't it make more sense if Haru was one of the princesses considering her persona and social status?🤔
Probably because P5 port would be much more difficult to make than P4 one. They might have something else to put efforts in that will be more profitable. It's buisness
The end of this video really made me cry.. great job man
What makes Maruki's persona, Azathoth even more fitting for him is that it is said that because Azathoth is the most powerful out of all the outer gods or old ones. Is because it can literally manifest its dreams into a reality. There's a saying that we are all part of Azathoth's dream, and we live because he sleeps, hence why he's also called, the Blind-Idiot God and if he were to awaken, we'd all disappear in an instant. This further ties into Maruki of being able to distort reality as it is because of Azathoth's power and honestly makes him in a way terrifying, especially since he literally has the power of a freaking god at his disposal. It also furthers states as to why Maruki could end up taking the place of Yaldabaoth, the God of Control and be the new god.
@@oldman1340 That's because one, for the sake of plot wise, and two, because their wills are greater then Maruki's.
Honestly i suffered alot from depressiom lately and Persona kinda helped me with understanding people including myself more, loved everything about it, the characters, the music, the gameplay, the story, the voiceactors are on point, it's really a 10/10, actually became my favourite game, and i never played a persona, yet any jrpg before this
Something I never really thought about until I played Royal was how Persona 5 focuses on growth through adversity. The base game also features this, but Sumire is the character that made me realize this, and despite your thesis, I think the game acknowledges that in the "real word," there is room for aspects of Maruki's philosophy and that of the PTs. Sumire, by her own admisssion, tells Joker that had it not been for Maruki, she would have never found the strength to carry on. I think Futaba is also like this - a person that needed a miracle to even have the strength needed to go through life. But with Sumire, we see the effects of both Maruki's philosophy and that of the PTs in effect; she finds the strength to continue living as Kasumi, but her personal development is stunted once she has outgrown that Persona. Maruki's "miracle" gets her back up on her feet and makes her feel ready to live again, but when confronted with the reality that Kasumi died saving her, she reaches a low that she would have never gotten over by herself, she needed Joker and the rest of the PTs to yet again find her footing as Sumire, face her challenges, and overcome them. It was a great touch that Kasumi says that society could grow weak and complacent if they relied too much on the PTs, and I'm sad that we never know if those are what she thinks are Kasumi's thoughts, or if they're her own, but just as society has to learn to deal with things without the PTs, so does the world have to deal with things without Maruki's guidance. This is a point I've rarely seen brought up, but I think that in the end, Maruki may have ended helping more people than depriving others of personal growth; think of the people that are just living life one day, and the next they find out they have a horrible disease. 2020 has made me appreciate my health a lot, so maybe that's why I'm more sympathetic to him. But whatever the case, I think the game makes the case that a person sometimes needs a miracle, or luck, or whatever you want to call it, to find the strength to live life. All the PTs needed their Persona powers to awaken, they need their network of friends. They overcome adversity yes, but like with anything, I think there is a limitation to willpower. You mentioned overcoming some very dark times yourself, but I think that in real life, humans do have a breaking point. I think you hit a very low point in your life, but at times, only a miracle can help you get by.
The third semester breaks my heart and really talks to me on a personal level for one reason. I've been bed bound on and off since 2013, full time since 2015 due to suffering from chronic centeral sensitization, basically CS prior trauma (both physical and mental) has 'caused my body to retaliate in the form of dealing with chronic pain that is both hyper sensitive to both motion and touch. The reason the third semester really speaks to me is because if I was given the oppertunity to escape my CS in the form of maruki's reality. I couldn't look you in the eyes and say I wouldn't be swayed by his offer, given the oppertunity to run from this pain. I honestly think I'd take it
You aren't wrong for saying yes to that offer, It's a dilemma because both are morally right! Hell, I'd take the offer too! It's just which ideal you believe in at the end of the day in this one little dilemma:
If you had the power to rewrite reality, Would you use it to fix people's problems and overall make them happier but deny what growth would have happened before leaving some feeling empty or incomplete even with the help or would you refuse to use it to allow people to experience such problems and grow as people but condemn those who can't to a certainly terrible fate?
Both have big consequences, Both choices aren't wrong. If you believe in either Ideal, You aren't wrong.
Before talking about my favorite part of Royal I wanna say why I and many other people like Kamoshida over many other palace rulers. Mostly because unlike the other ones he is the most present one. We have animated cutscenes with both him and his shadow self, his authority over the school is something we see through basically every npc and we are forced to live with him, hell we can even talk to him if we so desire. At least for me, he felt much more pressuring than Mr.Mafia Dude, Darth Burger Lord and Madarame. Ok, moving on!
My favorite part of the game as a whole? Akechi. The third semester clearly wanted to show us the good, the true good inside this ruthless guy. But why do I like this boy so much? Weeeeeeell
- Unlike many other edgelords in media, Akechi... Is not a complete edgelord. Yes he doesn't really care about the Phantoms except for Joker, yes he calls them "Absolute fools" but he will never be like "Tisk tisk I don't have the time to hang out with you" or "hmp, I am not talking to my team." On the contrary he is the one who wants to cooperate, will often start conversation and he is visibly hurt by the fact that the thieves doesn't want him around. Sure it is cool to see some badass character giving one line that has many meanings, but it's refreshing to see the Dark Rival trope being open about their feelings and thoughts.
- His overall relationship with Joker and how Royal changes even the smallest detail. While I didn't play the original P5 I digged on it a little thanks to this wonderful red website. In the base game, just before the boss fight, he becomes a typical villain "that will show his true power" and blah blah blah. But here? His "fun little idea" is about finishing what he started with Joker, making it much more personal for them and for the player. Not only that but in the third semester, Akechi shows signs of great trust in Joker. He is deeply, deeply dissapointed and wounded if we accept Maruki's world and most of all, he doesn't care about showing his true self. On a lesser scale, this is what happens in real life to some people. It's easy to show a perfect mask of ourselves, while it's much harder to show our true feelings and flaws. Akechi showing his more brutal and blunt side means that he feels comfortable enough around Joker, that he truly considers him a friend.
- How admirable he is. Yes, Black Mask, the most batshit insane boss in the game shows a truly admirable side in the last part of the game. Why? Well, let's think about what the thieves do. All of them, including Joker, had some doubts about stopping Maruki before realizing that they truly want to. Cool, right? They will embrace their life and issues. But what about Akechi? This guy has everything to lose. Not just his public image or happiness, but his whole life. There is a very real chance that he will die after the new reality gets destroyed. And he doesn't care. He always hated being manipulated, he wanted to make his own choices and if refusing a reality where someone has plans for him will end his life, Akechi will go and die as a free man, with unmatched will and resolution. And I... I am conflicted about his fate. Part of me wishes that Akechi survived and will be present in future games because he deserves a second chance, but another part of me wishes that he... Stayed dead. That is what makes sense for his character, to be remembered as the young man who stayed true to his ideals and proudly faced death with no remorse whatsoever.
My only grip with 3rd Semester Akechi is how... Underwhelming he is as a playable character. He doesn't have boost or amp skills so he is basically a weaker Ryuji/Yusuke who cannot inflict status to the enemeis. Almighty Boost/Amp would have been perfect for him! I mean he is Black Mask for crying out loud, the one that is stated to be far, far more powerful than all of us. C'mon Atlus...
My personal head canon about the balancing issue for Akechi’s abilities are that Joker and the PT’s went through such a power scaling boom in Mementos Depths that they reached or even surpassed his strength rendering him an average party member.
@@phillemon7664
I don't buy that since KaSumire starts at level 75, as high as Akechi
Third semester's Akechi is not even real. He died in Shido's Palace. He is just a creation made from Joker and Maruki's cognition about him. His confidant is IMO the best addition to the game, but his part in the last section of the game is pretty much what Joker would have wanted him to be.
As for his gameplay power level... That is to not overpower the rest of the game although he has elemental advantage against most enemies in the first stage of the dungeon, right unti you get Sumire to take that space.
@@lokasocba
This cognitive Akechi thing is so bullshit, everyone who says that never payed attention to the story. Regardless of whenever Akechi truly died on Shido's palace (it varies if you get the post credit scene or not) in the original reality, what happens in third semester is not fake because Maruki's world is effectively real. Wakaba and Okumura are said to be real, they never died. Just like Akechi, they are not copies with memories of the original people, they're the original people.
Not overpower the rest of the game you say? That doesn't mean making Akechi, the one who outclassed six experienced Persona users and an even stronger wild card, so weak in comparison to said six character. One thing is to balance him, another thing is to negate him good damage options. He's the only one who doesn't get Boost/Amp skills for seemingly no reason.
@@maverick5169 That "cognitive bullshit" is the base of Maruki's power. The change in reality is given because everyone perceives the world as Maruki and themselves want it. Even in the new world, Sumire's parents call her "Sumire" and that's why Joker perceives a glitch when he meets his father.
There is actually cut content where you can see Kamoshida, Maderame, and Okumura’s pasts and why they became the way they were similar to Maruki’s VHS tapes
Favorite game ever.
Also, the palace is just really good from a game-play perspective.
awesome video kamen I really enjoyed it have a nice day
Your editing is so entertaining
I’m so glad I found this channel
Don’t need a video telling me why this game is amazing but I’ll still watch anyway
I think the one biggest missed opportunity of Royal and the Third Semester was to have had Rumi snap out of her own false reality after Maruki's defeat, but like Sumire ends up having had the time to better process her past and be able to move forward on her own, afterward. That would also allow her to remember Maruki and seek him out to reassure him. Even if they don't end up getting back together, Maruki deserved that much closure.
I remember some people hating on Akechi in the og P5 and said that there was no way they could redeem his character. And morally, they didn't. They did the exact opposite and I love it.
Never has an antagonist made me question if what I was doing was wrong. Especially hearing the desperation from Sumire after Joker chooses to reject Maruki's reality. That hit me hard.
That is a beautiful thumbnail
When I saw the first will seed I thought it would lead to a flashback that would show why Kamoshida became the way he was. Small moments that planted the "seed" for his palace
What really made the battle against Maruki hurt for me was that the basis of his argument is correct. Sometimes, the world does unjustly put far more pain on an individual than they can handle, resulting in a total shutdown as we saw with his girlfriend. If he had been talked to in time, and trained, his power could be used with a more personal and discriminating touch to help people who have become too traumatized to be able to overcome their pain. Hell, he could’ve even had his own spinoff operation going where he can change the hearts of victims of pain like Futaba so that they can have the tools to move forward, and even collaborate with the Phantom Thieves for individuals like Sae who were victims that became antagonistic in response to pain. It’s such an impactful fight to me because it could have been avoided and led to so much more for everyone.
I loved this video, and i agree on all points except for one.
You mentioned that the reality was forced upon the phantom thieves, but i feel like thats debatable. If i remember correctly, the only reason why Maruki got the power to change reality is because the phantom thieves deep down wanted that escape, to be happy. At the very least i think thats arguable a subconscious decision.
I kind of wish the third semester was just joker, akechi, and kasumi tbh
If i'm not mistaken the new royal content was written without the direction of the series longtime director who has left working on persona games, something he's done since 3. I think the fact the new royal content manages to keep the good parts of the original game and characters while adding more emotional depth and moral questions bodes well for the series. Something I hope they do in 6 is make our protagonists a little older. The high school simulator is fun but I would really love a college aged MC or even young adult.
honestly i had to debate with myself for a month to figure out if i really wanted to fight maruki or not
I fought him, to obtain the true ending.
So I knew this was a man of culture based off the first 10 min of the video. But then, he went further beyond and spent Christmas with Haru. This man truly know what’s up
Honestly, I'm gonna say it.
Third Semester and DR2-6 are great for the same reasons.
This game has become an important part of my life. The Persona series intrigued by interest with 5. And it's the best decisions I've ever made! Right now I just can't see how Persona 6 can ever top the popularity and importance that is P5
I went into this agreeing with Maruki but now I'm just so 50/50, the thing is yes they developed from their pain. But, there are people who literally don't get that chance, some are born just to die at a young age or end up with mental illnesses that are impossible to overcome through will. I think, I would prefer some place in the center. Like, the most terrible tragedies are gone but you aren't just given a world of complete happiness, there's still room for growth. But of course that's not an option
On the faith thing, yaldabaoth isn't god , but a demiurge, even the so called "angels" aren't the real thing , but Twisted shadows, i don't thing atlus has something against chirstianity like some coments that i've heard people speak
Yeah, even in SMT4A which while butchering the original 4's conflict to force Neutral as the only valid path, they went out of their way to specify more than any other SMT that YHVH is a corrupted avatar of God and not the actual being who is known as the Great Will/Axiom. I think where the Atlus hates Christianity misconception comes from, coupled with the misconception YHVH is God, is Law is assumed to be all about blind obedience to YHVH and a loss of free will, even though in all but one game that isn't the case, instead it being about Utilitarianism. (Law characters also always turn on YHVH if he deviates from what Law wants) In the one game that actually was the case, (SJ) Chaos also took away free will and in the remake it was revealed that Law's change in behavior was due to a new female entity that was also responsible for imprisoning YHVH, who is good in this version, in the new game +. (fittingly he takes Demiurge's form)