What difficulty should I be playing at? I'm like 3 hours in and on normal it's been very easy so far, but I have a feeling this will change very soon.
My last Persona was Persona 3 Portable a long time ago on the PSP. Two separate times (several years apart) I played P3P for like 60 or 70 hours each time and got stuck in Tartarus when things got incredibly difficult/grindy/frustrating. I don't want to have a similar experience with this.
Is the story mode too easy? It says I can't change the difficulty if I go with that. I'm not looking for a challenge here; in fact, the battles/dungeons will surely be my least favorite part about this. Mostly looking forward to enjoying the character interactions/locations/story, etc which I'm hoping are all good.
You pretty much cannot lose on story/safe mode. You have infinite revives if you get knocked out. Just something to keep in mind if you chose to drop down.
I started on Hard and it feels just right tbh. Hard isn't like extra hard or anything, although I have definitely had to start using my brain starting about halfway through the second Palace
You're still SUPER early on in the game introducing all the combat mechanics. I'd say that the first palace is really an extended tutorial to get to use to how the heists work. Difficulty ramps up a lot.
I mean if you have actually played the series before then it won't be that hard. It isn't that hard to begin with especially if you actually play the game properly.
Basically play it on hard. But if you really just want to turn your brain off then normal and below.
The first dungeon is easy. It's a tutorial level. I say stay the course until the next one.
I just finished the second dungeon and I'm playing on normal. Like you I don't care for a challenge and I'm having fun with it. If you want to no-brain the game then normal should be a good level.
I'm at the fourth palace on normal and it hasn't been bad so far. Died twice so far. Once on a normal enemy due to being careless and getting ambushed and a string of bad luck crits, and a second time on a boss. When you die on the boss you can just retry the fight. Dying on a normal enemy I believe allows you to restart at the last safe room or perhaps even the previous room you were in?
Normal is fine. You still have to use your brain but you probably won't really die more than a couple times. Dying is a HUGE pain in the ass in Persona 5 (unless it's a boss fight). It will throw you all the way back to your last save point, which can be a really long way back. For me, the game is long enough without adding obstacles, it was an experience that was about much more than the combat. It's only one part of a very well-rounded package.
What difficulty should I be playing at? I'm like 3 hours in and on normal it's been very easy so far, but I have a feeling this will change very soon.
My last Persona was Persona 3 Portable a long time ago on the PSP. Two separate times (several years apart) I played P3P for like 60 or 70 hours each time and got stuck in Tartarus when things got incredibly difficult/grindy/frustrating. I don't want to have a similar experience with this.
Is the story mode too easy? It says I can't change the difficulty if I go with that. I'm not looking for a challenge here; in fact, the battles/dungeons will surely be my least favorite part about this. Mostly looking forward to enjoying the character interactions/locations/story, etc which I'm hoping are all good.
My advice is to bump the difficulty to Hard if the combat encounters already feel too easy, because at least in my experience the challenge withers away really fast in Royal.
Yeah normal is good. When you reach the Palace 5 boss, just bump the difficulty up to Merciless. It's easier and will save you hours, I promise. I didn't have many issues past that though on normal and it felt challenging enough.
My advice is to bump the difficulty to Hard if the combat encounters already feel too easy, because at least in my experience the challenge withers away really fast in Royal.
Can you elaborate this in Spoilers? I finished Royal few days ago and I literally didn't do any activities with Akechi.
As far as I understood I got:
"True" ending. Yoshizawa accepted her older sister's death and lived her life as Sumire after finishing Maruki's palace.
Akechi seemingly died after defeating Maruki, but that was only a positive in my book.
I actually needed to edit my post cause i forgot Maruki (the counselor at school) :
I maxed out Kasumi, Akeshi was level 9 and he died...but since i hated the counselor (Maruki) i never really cared much for him or his story. I think i got to level 7 with him. I was really hyped because the stadium seems like a great Palace from all i heard.
Turns out since i didn't get to level 8 with that specific character, you don't get a full Palace (the stadium, which you go there as a preview with Kasumi) and the 3rd semester is skipped. I basically got to January and skipped to early March or whatever it is the game ends...nothing happens in February lmao. From what i heard you lose around 30 hours of the game. So yeah i felt robbed. This isn't a little cutscene. But ERA told me this is Atlus and i "should've known"...Okay...
My advice is to bump the difficulty to Hard if the combat encounters already feel too easy, because at least in my experience the challenge withers away really fast in Royal.
Can you elaborate this in Spoilers? I finished Royal few days ago and I literally didn't do any activities with Akechi.
As far as I understood I got:
"True" ending. Yoshizawa accepted her older sister's death and lived her life as Sumire after finishing Maruki's palace.
Akechi seemingly died after defeating Maruki, but that was only a positive in my book.
Royal is even easier than base Persona 5. Especially with all the new tools they give you. I never even grinder (which is a lot easier to do) and Merciless was still cake.
You can always swap back and forth so I'd recommend trying one of the others to see if they fit your style better.
I found some bosses, the last ones in particular, incredibly hard to beat even on normal. Found it quite frustrating if you lose a boos fight that just takes 45 minutes and you have to start over again with depleted potions.
So I'd say stick to normal.
Also, look up how to get the third semester. I missed it and I'll probably wait another year or two before I start another play through. Which I'll definitely do because the game is amazing.
The scene where he gets the persona is kind of really important for his character and you can't see it otherwise. I'm pretty sure Morgana takes his place in that scene if you don't have the max confidant. I've actually had a hard time checking because apparently most people just do it.
Can I ask what happened in the scene where you give Maruki the calling card, did you get Akechi's monologue? Or did he not show up at all and it was Morgana doing some speech?
For reference, the start of this video has what I'm talking about
It gets a little tough as you progress but I don't know if I ever fully died on the base game except once or twice where MC was one-shot which ends the game. I would say just stick with Normal.
Royal is a lot easier than regular Persona 5. If you're experienced with Atlus RPGs, even Hard in Royal ends up getting pretty easy. And from what I've heard, the hardest difficulty is actually easier than Hard in the long run since it gives you more XP & boosts your crit/weak damage.
If you just want an easy time, I'd stick with Normal. I wouldn't pick Easy unless you basically want to auto-win or you're suggesting it to someone who has never played an RPG before.
Id say play in safety if you want to cut some time off an already excessively long game. I beat the original in easy in about 85 hours. I'd imagine normal or higher will make it closer to 90-100+
Normal is fine. As others have said- Palace 5 boss is a bit broken, (basically a check that you know how to maximize the baton passing system, and exploit elemental weaknesses)doesn't get easier from lowering different but actually easier to face upping difficulty to merciless where crit hits from using the right element do a ton more damage
Some endgame bosses are pretty tricky slogs through, but lowering difficulty can help with them. (this game lets you change difficulty anytime without penalty, so just have at whatever feels good. Go easy, if it feels like a slog.
Royal is a lot easier than regular Persona 5. If you're experienced with Atlus RPGs, even Hard in Royal ends up getting pretty easy. And from what I've heard, the hardest difficulty is actually easier than Hard in the long run since it gives you more XP & boosts your crit/weak damage.
If you just want an easy time, I'd stick with Normal. I wouldn't pick Easy unless you basically want to auto-win or you're suggesting it to someone who has never played an RPG before.
I would think even with the instances where you can't exploit weaknesses & crits, it would be a wash since you're probably going to be higher LV since Merciless gives 20% more XP.
Anyway, my main problem with Persona 5 Royal is that there's no proper mode for people who want a challenge unless you intentionally restrict yourself and do stuff like use a smaller party size. Whereas P4G also made things easier than P4 at the same difficulty, but it also added harder difficulty options to help counter that.
I would think even with the instances where you can't exploit weaknesses & crits, it would be a wash since you're probably going to be higher LV since Merciless gives 20% more XP.
Anyway, my main problem with Persona 5 Royal is that there's no proper mode for people who want a challenge unless you intentionally restrict yourself and do stuff like use a smaller party size.
Unless you're massively overleveled(Which merciless by itself wont do), it's usually not a big deal though anyway, as persona and equipment determines your characters stats far more than levels. You can argue that leveling up does give you access to personas, which is true, but I've never really been in a position of "if only I was a couple more levels I could get that persona I need" personally.
To be perfectly honest, that issue you have is the issue with EVERY Atlus game in recent memory(as in the issue of needing to restrict yourself for challenge throughout). None of the persona games or even recent SMT are that difficult once you get out of the early stretch. Once you get access to all your tools, these games become rather easy to break. Royal is certainly the clearest example of that though.
To be perfectly honest, that issue you have is the issue with EVERY Atlus game in recent memory(as int he issue of needing to restrict yourself for challenge throughout). None of the persona games or even recent SMT are that difficult once you get out of the early stretch. Once you get access to all your tools, these games become rather easy to break. Royal is certainly the clearest example of that though.
The Etrian Odyssey games tend to be rather well balanced IMO. Not unbreakable, but you have to go out of your way to figure out amazing combos. Whereas with P5R, the game gives you broken stuff all over the place (some of the Royal accessories are nuts, the Jazz Club is ridiculous, and the Ultimate Persona skills are a lot more powerful than the Ultimates in P4G were).
The Etrian Odyssey games tend to be rather well balanced IMO. Not unbreakable, but you have to go out of your way to figure out amazing combos. Whereas with P5R, the game gives you broken stuff all over the place (some of the Royal accessories are nuts, the Jazz Club is ridiculous, and the Ultimate Persona skills are a lot more powerful than the Ultimates in P4G were).
Ah, I actually did forget EO was done by Atlus as well and I have no opinion of them as I haven't played any for longer than like 10 minutes. I was mostly referring to SMT/Persona since the way they handle skill/weakness customization is inherently going to lead to having a broken team by mid game if you're playing it even semi intelligently even without the added features royal has.
After finishing Persona 4 Golden on Normal, I learned my lesson. Unless something radically changes with how dungeons are designed in these games, I will always play them on the easiest difficulty level. I don't want to have dozens of hours of my life wasted on uninteresting filler combat when what I enjoy about the Persona games is everything that is outside of the dungeons.
You should realize that the only thing difficulty affects is combat. The story mode itself remains unchanged regardless of difficulty (unless I'm forgetting something), so base your decision on how you feel about the combat system.
Another bit of advice - make sure that you max out the school councilor's confidant, because that's how you unlock the bonus 15-hour or so scenario at the end of the game that they added for Royal.
I actually needed to edit my post cause i forgot Maruki (the counselor at school) :
I maxed out Kasumi, Akeshi was level 9 and he died...but since i hated the counselor (Maruki) i never really cared much for him or his story. I think i got to level 7 with him. I was really hyped because the stadium seems like a great Palace from all i heard.
Turns out since i didn't get to level 8 with that specific character, you don't get a full Palace (the stadium, which you go there as a preview with Kasumi) and the 3rd semester is skipped. I basically got to January and skipped to early March or whatever it is the game ends...nothing happens in February lmao. From what i heard you lose around 30 hours of the game. So yeah i felt robbed. This isn't a little cutscene. But ERA told me this is Atlus and i "should've known"...Okay...
Oh mann, I thought Maruki was excellent character. Initially I also disliked him when he was introduced, but I completely reversed my opinion after having the 1st counselling session with him.
I completely lucked out, because I didn't realize players could entirely skip the additional piece of content. I assumed Maruki's palace would still be ham-fisted story wise even if player doesn't spend enough time with him (or with Kasumi). I kinda love it and hate it, because it's wild that (at least in my opinion) the best section of the game could be completely missed. I think in my case I played something like ~35 hours after beating Yaldabaoth. If you have the time and chance to go back in older save to "fix" this, then I would suggest doing so. I don't want to overhype it, but the last palace contained some genuinely touching moments. After beating the story, I replayed the last 3 hours of the game again the next day.
The scene where he gets the persona is kind of really important for his character and you can't see it otherwise. I'm pretty sure Morgana takes his place in that scene if you don't have the max confidant. I've actually had a hard time checking because apparently most people just do it.
Can I ask what happened in the scene where you give Maruki the calling card, did you get Akechi's monologue? Or did he not show up at all and it was Morgana doing some speech?
For reference, the start of this video has what I'm talking about
The scene was similar until 3:30 where Joker answered "What do you mean". Basically I didn't have Akechi in the scene at all. Instead it contained only Maruki, Joker and Morgana. Morgana's part wasn't that much larger in my case. I couldn't take screenshots via PS5, so here is the transcription of the discussion after I selected "What do you mean" dialogue choice:
Maruki : Once somebody experiences their ideal form of happiness, it's extremely difficult to leave that feeling behind.
Morgana : Enough Maruki.
Morgana : We've already make up our minds: we're rejecting your reality!
Maruki : Really? The entirety of it?
Maruki : ...Consider Akechi-kun.
Maruki : Selfish adults abused his weakness to do horrible things, culminating in his confrontation with the Phantom Thieves.
Maruki : When it was all over...
[Flashback to Shido's palace where Cognitive Akechi appeared
Akechi : You bastard
Akechi : So, my final enemy is a puppet version of myself...
Akechi : Not bad. ]
Maruki : Were you satisfied with what fate dealt you? I can't imagine so.
Maruki : That's why I created a reality where you could all have another chance to make it work.
Maruki : Get what I'm saying?
Maruki : If this reality were to disappear, then he could be...
Maruki : I genuinely didn't want to tell you like this. I didn't want to make it seem like I'm holding him hostage...
Maruki : But no matter what you may think of me, I just want you all to accept this reality and move on with your happy lives.
Maruki : Please...
Maruki : Please, accept my gift. For your friends' sake and your own.
Joker: [two dialogue options] *I can't* / I'll accept it.
Maruki : [shocked]
Maruki : ...I see.
Maruki : That's just like you, isn't it.
[Maruki stand ups. The camera shifts to Maruki's back.]
Maruki : And you... You were the one person I wanted on my side the most.
Maruki : You were the guiding light to my research. You showed me the way so I could make my dream into reality.
Maruki : I have nothing but gratitude for you - not a single ounce of ill will. All I have wanted was to give you happiness.
Maruki : But if this is where we are... then this is where we have to be.
Maruki : Tomorrow... Tomorrow we summon everything we have - and see whose will for the world is stronger.
Joker : [two dialogue options] *This is for you.* / You forget something. [Different camera angle than in the YouTube video/Akechi route]
Maruki : Ah, that's right.
Maruki : Now it's official... I have heard your calling.
[Maruki leaves the coffee shop]
Morgana : We can't lose - no matter what.
[The scene ends]
Other difference that I noticed in the video:
My Arsene's level is/was at one (1) when entering Maruki's palace - unlike in the video. Maybe it's also due to the fact that I completely ignored Akechi.
Finally, the last animation scene in my case...:
...was exactly the same. So I guess neglecting Akechi doesn't change rest of the crews endings - which I'm happy, since I just can't see myself spending any time with Akechi even if (=when) I will find time for NG+ playthrough.
Oh mann, I thought Maruki was excellent character. Initially I also disliked him when he was introduced, but I completely reversed my opinion after having the 1st counselling session with him.
I completely lucked out, because I didn't realize players could entirely skip the additional piece of content. I assumed Maruki's palace would still be ham-fisted story wise even if player doesn't spend enough time with him (or with Kasumi). I kinda love it and hate it, because it's wild that (at least in my opinion) the best section of the game could be completely missed. I think in my case I played something like ~35 hours after beating Yaldabaoth. If you have the time and chance to go back in older save to "fix" this, then I would suggest doing so. I don't want to overhype it, but the last palace contained some genuinely touching moments. After beating the story, I replayed the last 3 hours of the game again the next day.
Huh. This was news to me as well. I entirely missed that one.
Sure!
The scene was similar until 3:30 where Joker answered "What do you mean". Basically I didn't have Akechi in the scene at all. Instead it contained only Maruki, Joker and Morgana. Morgana's part wasn't that much larger in my case. I couldn't take screenshots via PS5, so here is the transcription of the discussion after I selected "What do you mean" dialogue choice:
Maruki : Once somebody experiences their ideal form of happiness, it's extremely difficult to leave that feeling behind.
Morgana : Enough Maruki.
Morgana : We've already make up our minds: we're rejecting your reality!
Maruki : Really? The entirety of it?
Maruki : ...Consider Akechi-kun.
Maruki : Selfish adults abused his weakness to do horrible things, culminating in his confrontation with the Phantom Thieves.
Maruki : When it was all over...
[Flashback to Shido's palace where Cognitive Akechi appeared
Akechi : You bastard
Akechi : So, my final enemy is a puppet version of myself...
Akechi : Not bad. ]
Maruki : Were you satisfied with what fate dealt you? I can't imagine so.
Maruki : That's why I created a reality where you could all have another chance to make it work.
Maruki : Get what I'm saying?
Maruki : If this reality were to disappear, then he could be...
Maruki : I genuinely didn't want to tell you like this. I didn't want to make it seem like I'm holding him hostage...
Maruki : But no matter what you may think of me, I just want you all to accept this reality and move on with your happy lives.
Maruki : Please...
Maruki : Please, accept my gift. For your friends' sake and your own.
Joker: [two dialogue options] *I can't* / I'll accept it.
Maruki : [shocked]
Maruki : ...I see.
Maruki : That's just like you, isn't it.
[Maruki stand ups. The camera shifts to Maruki's back.]
Maruki : And you... You were the one person I wanted on my side the most.
Maruki : You were the guiding light to my research. You showed me the way so I could make my dream into reality.
Maruki : I have nothing but gratitude for you - not a single ounce of ill will. All I have wanted was to give you happiness.
Maruki : But if this is where we are... then this is where we have to be.
Maruki : Tomorrow... Tomorrow we summon everything we have - and see whose will for the world is stronger.
Joker : [two dialogue options] *This is for you.* / You forget something. [Different camera angle than in the YouTube video/Akechi route]
Maruki : Ah, that's right.
Maruki : Now it's official... I have heard your calling.
[Maruki leaves the coffee shop]
Morgana : We can't lose - no matter what.
[The scene ends]
Other difference that I noticed in the video:
My Arsene's level is/was at one (1) when entering Maruki's palace - unlike in the video. Maybe it's also due to the fact that I completely ignored Akechi.
Finally, the last animation scene in my case...:
...was exactly the same. So I guess neglecting Akechi doesn't change rest of the crews endings - which I'm happy, since I just can't see myself spending any time with Akechi even if (=when) I will find time for NG+ playthrough.
Oh so I was right. I think that scene is *really* important, that's why I recommend people max Akechi's confidant. It's also quite good on it's own given the restructuring it got in royal.
