JohnnySeraph

From official "Atlus_West" on Twitter:

"All will be revealed December 8."

Developing...

Eastern USA here, done with the bank palace, no bundle email yet.

That is just so wrong, on so many levels, that it is a stroke of utter genius.

@LivingLeif The first few hours are definitely heavy on both plot exposition and play explanation. It's a slow burn, and rather infamously so.

Hang in there, though. Once the training wheels come off, so to speak, it does pick up speed, and in some places, literally so. You'll have more places to go, more things to do, and more Confidants to juggle.

There's a lot to keep straight, and rather than throw you to the wolves and overload you with it all up front, the game parcels it out to make sure you "get it" before moving on.

Personally, I think that's a feature, not a bug. I'd rather deal with a learning curve that errs on the side of being too gentle, than too steep, know what I mean?

Finished the original more than once, pre-ordered the digital version here.

And while there's admittedly a lot of retread, there's also a lot of added value in what's interwoven, even in the early going. Sharp-eyed players will be able to spot principal characters in some new places, and it looks like there's a bit more foreshadowing.

They added voiced lines to most of the important story sequences that had been text-only, which is nice.

The additional time you get at night, is a godsend. Crosswords now become free actions if you successfully solve them, so hey, Knowledge boost in no time. Breaking out the mop not only improves your Kindness, but gives you points with Sojiro. You get so much extra time at night, that if you run out of coffee or lockpicks in this version, that's honestly on you. The work desk now lets you craft multiple items with a single command, which will save you gobs of time when your Proficiency gets up there.

The camera now moves where you want it to, when you're sneaking. The home shopping channel now offers you a CHOICE of what to get, and some of the decisions aren't clear-cut. Negotiations are a LOT less obtuse.

Transitions are quicker, and the wipe graphics have gotten an even more stylish update. The added character portraits are subtle, but effective. The Assist function...the Assist function, full stop. I could go on.

Point is, this was ABSOLUTELY worth the price of admission, even as a returning player. There are SO many additional decisions for you to make, and the quality of life improvements are substantial. And that's before you even get to the splashy new stuff.

I'm normally not one to gush in print, but WOW, this was worth every penny.

@Athrum True, but in the original, maxing out Confidants does add a little extra emotional punch to the calling card sequence for the cruise ship palace, the final showdown, and the aftermath.

No spoilers, but I will say that every maxed out support confidant gets a small part in those sequences, and they add a LOT of emotional punch to the story.

I assume there's going to be something similar in P5R. So, it'll still be worth doing, even if there's no trophy for it.

Shaddap and take muh money already. O_O

That clip did a good job of explaining the basics for newcomers, while dropping enough hints that sharp-eyed regulars would notice.

And Mona signing off with "Don't stay up too late" made for a nice little inside joke.

Well, this old geezer loved it, and when I say old, I mean I go all the way back to typing programs into my Commodore 64 from the pages of Compute!'s Gazette.

Is the game youth-centric? Well, yeah; if there's any place in the story where Ryuji uses the word "adults" without preceding it with a scatological epithet, I can't recall it off the top of my head.

But the themes the story deals with, are universal, regardless of your age. Makoto's observation that "Having the freedom to not make decisions, only means that someone else is controlling you" might well be one of the best arguments for individual dignity in the entire history of the medium.

It's definitely a story that was worth the telling, and worth every minute I spent experiencing it. And when you look back from the end of it, you realize there was just no other way to have told it.

C.S. Lewis dedicated "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," to his niece, Lucy Barfield. (Stick with me on this.) In the dedication, he wrote that "someday, you will be old enough for fairy tales again," and I'd encourage you to approach Persona 5 in the same way.

Honestly, I wish I'd had a group of friends like the Phantom Thieves, back when I was in high school. And I wouldn't be able to say that, if the writing weren't as good as it is.

And the openness of the original ending, which ultimately wraps on the idea that these kids now have their entire lives ahead of them, is as hopeful as it is bittersweet...a perspective I don't think I would even have, if I were half my current age.

Don't write this game off as a jejune celebration of contemporary youthful folly. It's anything but that.

And to the other point, yes, the prologue is kind of ridiculous, but you really do need to just go with it. Most of the main story is told in the form of an extended flashback, and the opening sequence is designed to set up the narrative framing.

This game ultimately earns its M rating, but in a good way.

Honestly, just seeing P5's art style expanded into so many new locations in Japan, is impressive enough already.

Getting the band back together doesn't always work out, but I have to admit: after several runs through the original P5, I always get a little wistful at the true ending. Sure, those kids do have their whole lives ahead of them, but...after all the events leading up to that, whatever can they do for an encore?

Well, if Scramble does indeed head West, we may find out. That it's an action RPG doesn't bother me: Skyrim and DA:I are my comfort food, so I can adjust, I'm sure.

It's more than just a longer story.

Unless I'm having a brain cramp, there's also going to be a customizable area where you can also review previously seen set pieces. "Thieves' Den," I think they're calling it?

New part of town with mini-games that affect the principal cast; Caroline and Justine step outside the Velvet Room; grappling hooks; there's a LOT.

I'm not sure if the Den will have, for lack of a better expression, "display space" for the different Shadows from the Compendium, but if so, that would be wicked-cool, too. You could, in theory, put together quite a virtual temple for some of the larger mythologies.

I took a look at the official page, even though I can't read Japanese. But I do understand tarot.

And what I found interesting, was that it seems they've gotten rid of Sae as Judgement, which kind of makes sense. I understand why she's the Confidant for that card in the original, but she doesn't really add anything until very late.

And with two new characters, but only one "missing" card in the original (XXI, The World), it does stand to reason that SOMEONE would have to go, in order to make room. Still, the two new card designs they show are...odd. Let's just put it that way.

I'm also curious to see who and what they added to the Compendium. The list of the different spirits, from So. Many. Mythologies. was already nothing to sneeze at, and if they expanded that, too, then it might just be one of the biggest such lists in a Triple-A video game.

I can see why trimming load times would balance out the time commitment.

For those of you who played Skyrim on PS3, then tried the PS4 version, you already know how trimming transition times can add up over the long run.

I'm not quite at "just shut up and take my money" at this point, but there's just enough added value here to get this a spot near the top of my list.

I mean, for one thing, did we ever officially find what happened to...(HEY, NO SPOILERS)...after the team escaped the cruise ship's engine room? There are lots of fan theories, and maybe there was something written in a different official telling that I haven't seen. But the game itself leaves it as an open question.

Now add in the extra locations, characters, and even side distractions, and this looks like more than just a cash grab to me. Just my $0.02.

@Futureshark Well, that's one way to look at it.

Then again, expanded editions can be much better than the originals, but it is instructive to see both versions. If you need movie examples, see, for instance, "The Abyss," and if you REALLY want an eye-opener, check out the different versions of "Brazil."

Or, find a movie you've only seen on video, and go see it on the big screen when it plays at an art house. I've personally done that: I'd seen "Wings of Desire" too many times to count on DVD, but when it played at a Peter Falk retrospective, I jumped at the chance. Totally different experience, even though I had most of it down to memory.

Even remasters of video games can be different experiences: try Shadow of the Colossus on PS2, and then again on PS4. Neither version is any less definitive, but they're radically different experiences.

Admittedly, that's a nerdy argument. Then again, we're not too far, I think, from a point where the history of the medium is going to warrant serious study. And the original P5 is already regarded as one of the best games out there right now, so it's going to get studied at some future point. And both versions will likely be part of that.