I recently completed my first playthrough of P5R.
I think it’s the peak of the series. Gameplay-wise, the dungeons are really expressive compared to Persona 3’s Tartarus. The puzzles are not dated like the ones in Persona 4.
What really sets it apart from the other two games though is the theme and the setting. I think where a lot of games tend to suffer is how disconnected they are to reality and their fictitious worlds are self-contained.
The game is 10 years old already. It’s sad to see the state of the world today. In democratic countries, why do we still fall for the false promises of Shidos and Yaldabaoths?
I know Persona 5 is not the first to deliver its message but that only makes it even more concerning. I can really feel the pessimism of some older artists and media professionals when they say their work has no influence in this world.
It can be quite depressing sometimes. But I guess that can also be the sin of sloth…
That said, I’m interested in what Metaphor is about and what sentiments about the world it expresses.
Yeah, when I played vanilla P5 it was around the end of Trump’s first presidency, and then I played Metaphor right around or before his second election. It was depressing, and hell, I played the Tellius games of Fire Emblem, which featured NPCs who gladly cheered and turned traitor against the main crew in order to save their hides from the invading facist country. (Only to then realize that they sealed their fates and it got worse) These have alk been during this shitty regime.
It’s hard to stomach them sometimes when thinking about the world around you, especially knowing that some people played the game and came out completely blind, or worse, in favor of the very thing it opposed.
But I think the hardest part sometimes is just feeling inadequate or incapable compared to the characters. I’m not a Phantom Thief with the ability to magically change hearts and minds, I’m not a mercenary with a blessed sword that cuts all evil. I know we’re supoosed to think about the things we can do in real life, but it feels impossible sometimes, and i think that’s what holds us back the most.
It just feels like if you aren’t rich or famous, then it’s impossible to introduce major positive change. It’s hard to reach out to people, I have my college friends but I have never really known my neighbors my whole life nor have much desire to. Reaching out to people and convincing them they’re not alone in their thinking is hard. And with social media it drowns it out even more.
I really wish I knew how to solve the issue of people falling for propaganda and this destructive desire to burn everything down even if it means hurting yourself just to see the other person cry. I wish I knew how to fix echo-chamber psychosis. I wish I knew how to get people to care and vote. But I think humanity’s greatest thinkers have been trying to solve this problem since humans decided to start living in social groups, and we’ll probably never find the answer anytime soon.
So I just try to make peace with the minimum and focus on living and at least educating and caring about those close to me and myself. I try to limit where, who. and what I spend on, I spread posts about things that matter to me, I openly speak about what I feel is right and wrong to those I meet, and I vote and contact reps to do as much as I can without literally risking my life or future career. And at least I can say that’s better than being slothful and willingly turning my eyes away.
I hope you enjoy Metaphor, I found it to be a fantastic game and I realise it’s one of the few Atlus games where I liked almost every social link. And I frequently find myself missing and looking back on it :)