Review game Persona 5

Japanese role playing games have always held a special place in my heart. With warmth I remember our school days when in the evening, had his head in a wonderful sort of Star Ocean: The Second Story Tales of Destiny and Final Fantasy VII. But alone against the rest of the games have always been the Persona series. Dark stories of modern Japanese schoolchildren, opposing the ancient demons and their inner fears, charmed and allured, comparing favorably to the already hackneyed stories about the fabulous middle ages. Today I'd like to tell you about the fifth numbered game in this magnificent franchise that is exclusive to the gaming consoles PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Honestly, I'm even a little uncomfortable from how much I have to tell you about this game, so it is huge and complex.

The First game in the series Persona came to light in 1996 as a spin-off of another popular Japanese franchise . The story it told about a group of high school students from the fictional Japanese city of Mikage-those who witnessed a series of supernatural incidents. Thanks to the extraordinary combination of circumstances the main characters discover their own ability to summon to our world of supernatural entities are "Persons" that are the embodiment of their inner world. Person help their owners to protect native city from invasion of evil demons, and to understand themselves.

The Game was so unusual that it was really received well by critics and overnight became a hit. Many called it "a completely different RPG," and "a real gem of the PlayStation library". Sales of Revelations: Persona for the first year in Japan alone amounted to nearly 400,000 copies, which for 1996 was just a great result. This was a significant reason for the development of several sequels. Three years later, they released Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and a year — Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, continues the story of the sequel.

Released for the PlayStation 2 game Persona 3 (2006) made a kind of revolution in the series. Radically changed the visual style, over time and now affect gameplay and were introduced to a system of Social Links. She allowed the characters to communicate with each other, strengthening their friendships and thereby increasing their Persons. At some point you could even start a romantic relationship with one or several female characters. The next game is Persona 4 (2008) improved the existing mechanics and once again cemented the series as one of the leaders in the genre.

Fifth under the account the game the main series had to wait a very long time. Since the release of Persona 4 last 8 years. Happy the inhabitants of the Country of the rising Sun are enjoying Persona 5 since the autumn of last year, at a time like the rest of the world had to wait for April 2017. But such is the fate of many Japanese projects, because localization is such a huge and rich dialogues of the game in several languages can be difficult. The Director of the project once again became Katsura Hashino, who led the development of a number of parts of the series, starting with Persona 3, but also has put his hand to the magnificent in my opinion the game Catherine. I think this game was his Swan song, the embodiment of all he ever dreamed of. Sadly, after the release of Persona 5 Director made an official statement on the transfer of the series in the hands of young developers. Himself Hasina plans to do other games.

The philosophy of Persona games in the series are the teachings of famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. It was his interpretation of archetypal images, psychological types, the theory of the collective unconscious has allowed Japanese developers Atlus to make a game world is so deep, dark and, at the same time, affecting many urgent problems of modern society. In the third game of the series, the developers even included a short course of lectures, which tells the players about what was greatly influenced by Carl Jung on the development of modern analytical psychology. At the time I listened to this unusual and very informative "Annex" to the game, which has discovered many new.

In the center of the plot for Persona 5 the story of an unnamed young man (let's call him the Protagonist, as the player chooses the name of the main character) from a small provincial town. Returning home that evening, he tries to protect a woman from adhering to her by a drunken man, but he is a high-ranking official. On false charges in the attack on the person of our hero, expelled from school and transferred to study in Tokyo, where for probation for it undertakes to look after the owner of a small cafe LeBlanc and friend of his family, Sojiro Sakura. Slightest suspicion in violation of the law and the main character will face is a real term, because in Japan, the criminal liability starts from 14 years. The protagonist settles in the attic of the coffee shop and trying to get used to the new situation, because in Tokyo he will spend nearly a year. He rides the subway to his new Academy, is trying diligently to do and not to think about how unfairly managed with it fate.

And all anything, but gradually he realizes that the Academy is something very bad. Something that close the eyes of the Director and members of the parent Committee. It turns out that the local PE teacher Sugur kamoshida the last Golden Olympic champion in volleyball, terrorizing the Academy, mocking the members of the volleyball team and sexually harassing young girls. The management turns a blind eye to the recurring violations, because Kamoshida copes with its main responsibilities and lead the school volleyball team to win a major national championship. And the fact that his team regularly beaten and humiliated during training – few people are interested.

The Main character makes friends with the local bully ryūji Sakamoto, and meets a beautiful blonde Ann Takamaka, owes its unusual appearance to the fact that one-quarter of it is American (among pure-blooded Japanese people don't date people with blond hair). Despite the fact that Ann works as a fashion model and is the object of adoration of the male half of the students in the Academy, her friends are almost there, and coach Kamoshida using blackmail to persuade her to have sex. Three teenagers trying to resist the tyrant of the school, and this joint struggle firmly unites this small company of outcasts.

Traditionally, the games in the series, the main character during sleep is inside the mysterious "Velvet room." This is the space enclosed between the conscious and subconscious, the owner of which is a supernatural creature named Igor. Creepy old man with a long nose offers the Protagonist his help in solving his problem, and promises to give that incredible power, which can be used to protect yourself and your friends. In the morning the hero finds on your phone unusual application Metaverse Navigator, that appear on the desktop again and again, even if it is removed. It turns out that this app allows people to travel in the so-called "Metaverse" — another dimension through which you can get into the mind of people and influence their behavior.

Of Course, our heroes are immediately sent towards the unknown, to try to change the attitude of the school tyrant to others. It turned out that in the alternate reality coach Kamoshida imagine that the Academy is his personal Royal castle, and its students – only slaves, performs any whim of his monarch. Exploring the recesses of the subconscious trainer, heroes released from prison a strange creature named Morgan, looks like a cat. Morgan explains to them that the success of the mission they need to steal a "treasure" of Kamoshida hidden deep in his heart. Treasure – a certain conditional object, which began with the distortion of the personality of Chamosite. This will return presumptuous of the teacher to sense, and make him publicly repent of his numerous atrocities. It was at this point our hero is born the idea of a group of "Phantom Stealer of hearts" (or simply "Phantoms"), whose main aim will be the suppression of dangerous criminals inside their subconscious for the sake of humanity.

The gameplay, as in the previous part of the game is a Japanese role-playing game crossed with a Dating SIM, and supplemented with small patches in the form of numerous mini-games. The passage of time in the game will seem very unusual to those who had not been familiar with the series: the main character must live in Tokyo less than a year, and for each of the allotted days, he can perform a limited number of actions. That is why you need to plan in advance your plans so that as efficiently as possible to dispose of free time. In the game menu there is even a special calendar that tells the player what events will happen in the next few days, not to forget about them. It is important to remember that if the heroes go into the subconscious of any criminal, they set aside a certain number of days. Do not fit in the set time frame the game ends. Persona 5 is preparing you a first-class expert on time management, whether you like it or not. In mission for the transformation of the villains can freely return from the Metaverse back to reality, to restock items and heal, and the next day again to continue to explore the labyrinths of the subconscious.

Role-playing component looks quite traditional for Japanese video games. Going into the Metaverse, our heroes fall into the so-called "palaces" — distorted inner worlds villains erect in its...