Persona 5 Royal Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth It?
[Music] Hello everybody Zion over here from Nintendo life and today we’re here to Share with you our review of Persona 5 Royal on the Nintendo switch now this Review was originally written by Mitch Vogel for nintendalllife.com but was Reworked into this video by me [Music] Well it finally happened after literally Years of pretending like it wasn’t sure There would be an audience Atlas has Brought Persona 5 to the Nintendo switch And though this belated Port hasn’t Brought with it any new major upgrades Or changes we’re pleased to report that Persona 5 Royal is every bit as Magnificent and memorable in experience As it’s always been if you’re an RPG fan And haven’t had a chance to play this Yet you should consider picking this up As soon as possible especially now that You can play it on the go Persona 5 Royal has a plot that feels like a cross Between Inception and a superhero story Placing you in the role of Joker a quiet High school student who’s become a Victim of circumstance while walking Home from school one day you witness a Woman being assaulted by a man and Intervene the man is accidentally Injured and sues you for damages which Results in you being slapped with a Criminal fiction and sent into the city
To attend shujin Academy shortly after You gain the ability to access the Metaverse an alternate plane of Existence born out of people’s cognition Within the metaverse are palaces bizarre Dungeons based upon the Twisted way that Certain people in Power view real Locations and people for example the First palace is a castle ruled by a Physically and sexually abusive Volleyball coach who uses shujin Academy Students however he pleases the game Covers some incredibly heavy topics So Joker slowly amasses a group of Fellow rebellious students and misfits Who come to call themselves The Phantom Thieves Each of which can command Powerful monsters called personas to Battle bizarre and shadowy enemies in The metaverse given that the Palaces are A physical representation of the inner Workings of their ruler’s mind the Phantom thieves quickly learn that they Can manage to steal a treasure from deep Within a person’s Palace and that person Will experience a change of heart in the Real world and effectively become a Different better person so the team sets Out on a quest to better Society by Targeting and changing people’s hearts Now those are the broad Strokes of the Narrative but suffice it to say there’s A lot to chew on in between in this 100 Plus hour adventure and perhaps the most
Important thing about Persona 5 Royal is How effectively it manages to handle Pacing sure the game could be 20 hours Shorter if it trimmed back the dialogue But it makes full use of its run time to Build out an incredibly varied cast of Three-dimensional characters that Interact with a plot that continuously Raises the stakes the depth of the Script is part of the appeal as Conversations feel natural and Developing relationships between all the Phantom thieves feels like they progress At a realistic and logical Pace this is Not the kind of jrpg that feels Contrived or increasingly out of hand as It progresses though it can feel a tad Plotting if you binge the whole thing End to end as we did for this review This is the rare sort of game that we Feel absolutely justifies its length Gameplay is mostly split up into two Interconnected halves your normal life And your life in the metaverse and much Of the appeal of Persona 5 comes from How you balance the various activities Across both halves most of this comes From the constant pressure you’re placed Under as the narrative mostly progresses Via various arcs where you have to steal The treasure from a character’s palace With a looming deadline or it’s game Over usually you have about two in-game Weeks to pull off the heist and what you
Do with your time on the individual days That lead up to the deadline is entirely Up to you on the ordinary side of your Life you attend school most days and can Participate in mundane activities like Studying at the library washing your Clothes or hanging out with friends Participating in anything will advance Time a little bit further from after School to evening until you have to go To bed and that deadline is brought one Day closer there aren’t really any wrong Things you can do as a student but You’re encouraged to set priorities and Work towards longer term goals since you Don’t have enough time in a given day to Do everything that you’d actually like To do the gameplay element that really Pull pulls all of this together is the Social link system which tracks the Depth of your relationships with various Supporting characters not only do these Social Links give you key insight into The motivations and histories of each Character they offer up passive Abilities to help in the metaverse and Affect how quickly your personas can Level up for example if you get ryuji’s Social link skill up to level seven You’ll have the chance of insta-killing Weak enemies as soon as you encounter Them using Social Links is as much Motivated by strategy as it is by your Genuine interest in the character’s
Story who you get closer with will have A direct effect on certain aspects of Metaverse battles and you’ll have to Think carefully about who you’re Choosing not to spend time with just Like in real life people’s schedules Don’t always line up and if there’s a Juicy new passive ability you’re looking To snag by leveling up a character’s Social link you might need to move Around your own schedule for the week to Ensure you can hang out with them when They’re available now when you’re not Busy doing homework and working your Part-time job you’ll be spending time Fighting shadows in the metaverse here Gameplay most resembles a traditional Jrpg as you crawl through massive themed Dungeons packed with puzzles treasures And enemies each Palace is custom made And restricted to the chapter of the Story it appears in while you can also Visit a larger dungeon called mementos That features several procedurally Generated floors of gradually more Difficult challenges both kinds of Dungeons are wide linear in their design Offering up a relatively easy to follow Path to the end that feature plenty of Rabbit trails to coax you into exploring Off the beaten path but combat is the Real star of the show here adapting the Mega 10 series press turn system into The slightly more simplified and easy to
Exploit one more system most enemies Will have a weakness to at least one Elemental attack of nine different Potential elements and hitting them with That element will both stun them and Grant the attacking party Member One More turn they can then either use this To take another action or they can Baton Pass to another character which gives Them the extra turn and boosts their Damage and healing potential this Baton Pass effect Stacks with each character It passes to which can lead to some Serious damage output if you manage to Get the Baton through all four members Of your party plus if you manage to stun Every enemy by hitting their weaknesses You then trigger a hold up sequence that Lets you demand things of the enemy like Their loyalty or their money or you can Activate an all-out attack that sees Your whole team joining into a high Damage Super Attack that hits every Member of the opposing team we Appreciated this thoughtful approach to Turn-based combat as you’re encouraged To plan out several moves in advance to Make the most of the bonuses you can get From mechanics like baton passes in many Ways it can almost feel like a strategy Or puzzle game as you try to work out How you can most effectively take down Your foes without exhausting your Limited resources too much and though
Buffs and debuffs are still important in Boss fights it feels like Persona is a Little more forgiving in this regard When compared to its parent series there Are lots of ways you can game the combat System and exploit its unique quirks to Your advantage but if you don’t know how Or simply don’t feel like it Persona 5 Doesn’t mercilessly punish you for Playing things at a lower skill level Each of your party members have a fixed Persona that they use which dictates the Skills and abilities at their disposal But Joker is a bit of a wild card who Can wield multiple personas this means That he can effectively change classes Or ability sets at the drop of a hat Making him easily the most versatile and Important member of the team new Personas can be acquired either from Successfully negotiating with enemies at The end of a battle or by combining Existing personas in your collection to Form more powerful ones we especially Appreciated the depth of this aspect of Character building as it prods the Player into trying multiple play Styles And builds you have to switch up your Team relatively frequently as your Capability in battle is tied to the Strength of your personas and you can Only level up each one a few times Before you start seeing diminishing Returns a lesser game would feel more
Punishing by forcing the player to Constantly change up their Loadout but Persona 5 smartly mitigates any risk to The player by offering you the ability To buy back any released or fused Personas in exchange for money with this In mind you’re empowered to constantly Experiment fuse and explore every Development option available to you Without out fear that you might be Screwing yourself over later on as this Is the Royal version of Persona 5 this Release also includes tons of new Content and quality of life updates that Address most of the few complaints there Were about the original release the Headlining Edition here is an entire Third semester organically added to the End of the game totaling about 20 to 30 Hours of new story and there’s a new Phantom Thief named Kasumi to go all Along with it the real meat of the Updates though come in smaller tweaks Such as the way the beginning of the Game opens up a lot faster than it used To or how palaces have been redesigned To compensate for a new grappling hook That aids and streamlines exploration Those of you who have already played Through the original Persona 5 may want To think before committing to putting so Much time into effectively the same game But make no mistake Persona 5 Royal is The definitive version of persona 5. in
Terms of graphical presentation Persona 5 does an outstanding job of emphasizing Style without sacrificing function and It looks brilliant on switch sojuma’s Character design is some of the best in The business and that quality is on Full Display here as each character is given Distinctive and expressive designs that Really shine through especially in the Various 2D portraits that accompany Dialogue meanwhile the comic book esque Art style imbues even places like your Mundane school and this is dialed up to 11 as you dash around the metaverse Surrounded by kaleidoscopic prisms and Bursts of neon paint this is all matched By Audio that mixes rock music with acid Jazz producing one of the most unique And memorable video game soundtracks in Recent memory whether it’s something Like the down Tempo rainy day coffee Shop Vibe of beneath the mask or the Much more energizing and upbeat life Will change Persona 5 does an excellent Job of setting an effective atmosphere With its music although the sheer length Of the story means that many songs will Have gotten plenty of play by the time The credits roll it’s a testament to the Strength of the soundtrack that we never Felt even the most played tracks ever Got too repetitive we feel a special Mention also needs to be made regarding The voice acting which is excellent
Across the board both the English and Japanese casts do a stellar job of Breathing life and emotion into the Diversive cast of characters on offer Here and the sheer volume of dialogue That had to be recorded just for the Main story alone is nothing short of Commendable and specifically regarding The performance of this switch Port you Can be rest assured that the hardware is Up to the task while we noticed some Fuzzier textures and an overall softer Visual presentation in both docked and Handheld modes compared to its PlayStation counterparts we didn’t Notice any instances where the frame Rate dropped below the 30 FPS Target in Any notable way any minor drops in Performance quality relative to other Versions feels like a fair trade-off Here as the ability to play and pause Such an enormous offering while on the Go fits beautifully with the gameplay Design of persona 5. persona 5 Royal is The very definition of required reading For jrpg fans a deep and moving story Stylish presentation an amazing Soundtrack and decision-driven gameplay All combined to make for an Unforgettable and exceptional experience That proves itself to be every bit Deserving of the hype and praise it’s Already received while those who have Played this elsewhere may want to
Consider whether switch’s portability is Enough of a selling point to justify Paying full price to double dip but it Suits the hybrid system perfectly Persona 5 Royal remains a game that we Absolutely recommend you pick up as soon As you can this easily stands as one of The very best RPGs of the last decade And you’d be doing yourself a disservice To miss out [Music] Here at Nintendo life give Persona 5 Royal on the Nintendo switch a 10 out of 10. now if you’d like to check out our Full written review you can find that Along with more news and information on Persona 5 and the rest of the shiming Our intensei series over at Nintendolife.com let us know in the Comments down below if you’ve been Waiting for this release to finally get Into the Persona series and of course if You enjoyed this video and you want to See more videos like this then why don’t You mask change that subscribe button And then ring that notification Bell to Be notified whenever we put up a new Video thank you all so much for watching And thank you to Mitch for spending so Much so much time with Persona 5 Royal On switch I’m Zia for Nintendo life stay Safe out there and we will see you all Next time Foreign
