2017 was a stacked year for game releases: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon Forbidden West, Cuphead, Nier: Automata, PUBG, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Sonic Mania, Hollow Knight, and many, many more. Of course, in comparsion, JRPGs are a niche genre next to the open-world action/adventure games and other popular genres that dominated "Game of the Year" discussion in 2017. However, in spite of this, many different media outlets and content creators consistently had one JRPG in contention for GOTY awards: Persona 5, the latest entry in Atlus' now incredibly popular JRPG series.
Five years on, Persona 5 has very quickly become Atlus' most popular JRPG of all time, ironic since Shin Megami Tensei was where the series itself began. Arguably the Persona series had cemented itself as its own franchise with Persona 3, but Persona 5 was the first game to drop the SMT naming convention entirely. Atlus then systematically proved why the Persona series had its own legs to stand on, with Persona 5 succeeding the already impressive sales and escalating accomplishment of Persona 4 previous.On the fifth anniversary, both Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal have quickly become one of the best JRPGs of all time, for good reason.
Persona 5 Was A Subtle Star Among Hits Back In 2017
Persona 5 became a subtle star when it released back in 2017, as it was a big year for games in general. However, for JRPG fans who jumped into the over-100-hour game at launch, they knew how special Atlus' latest JRPG release truly was. Persona 5 had every aspect of a great JRPG in one complete package: An engaging and world-spanning adventure, a lovable cast of distinct and complex party members, tons of mechanical complexity and potential min-maxing, all alongside the unique dichotomy of dungeon crawling and social simulator that Persona fans know and love. Arguably this is why most Persona games are great, but Persona 5 is special.
Prior to the fifth entry, Persona was still largely a niche JRPG series, even for JRPG fans. Compared to heavy hitters like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokemon, and various other franchises, Persona games were comparatively far less mainstream, even when Persona 3 onward caused an escalating surge in popularity for the series. The reason why Persona 5 was such a success was, besides all of the major features and changes present in the game, the accessibility was improved immensely. Persona 5's gameplay and progression allowed for a ton of variety that allowed players to experience the game in their own way, however they want to.
Why Persona 5 Is One Of The Best JRPGs Of All Time
At its core, the fundamental setup in Persona 5 is no different from previous recent entries in the series: A teenager is brought to an environment they're not familiar with, forced to integrate among other young adults, all while coping with supernatural manifestations of psyche that lead them on a fantastical adventure. Joker's transformation into the confident leader of the Phantom Thieves takes place gradually, built up by the meaningful character development of his friends and allies around him. The best part about it all, is players have the freedom to imprint their own emotions on to Joker as a silent protagonist, even if Persona 5 is not the best example compared to other JRPGs.
From there, the full experience of Persona 5 begins to unravel during the beginning "palaces," the name Persona 5 allocates to the dungeons throughout the story. Players are exploring the worlds created by the minds of the corrupted; worlds manifested from people's negative trauma or psyche, either purposefully or incidentally. That's where the usual Persona gameplay balance of dungeons vs. social simulator comes in. This gameplay see-saw where players get to know their party members and secondary characters, along with the usual experience progression and gathering of Personas, is refined and perfected in Persona 5 more than any other entry thus far.
The Phantom Thieves Became Iconic For Persona And Atlus
Arriving in Tokyo for the first time, getting to know the trauma of Shujin students alongside Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann, meeting Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, and Akechi while increasing the Phantom Thieves' reach, all the while contending with escalating villains in Japanese society, all contributes to the emotional journey in Persona 5. The picaresque-inspired adventure inspired iconic characters, a compelling and engrossing story that's worth the 100+ hours it takes to beat, and has quickly cemented itself as one of the best JRPGs of all time. Five years after its initial release, many fans of the game still wish they could play through the game fresh just one more time.
While Persona 5 Royal may be the definitive experience for the game, it wouldn't exist without Persona 5's incredible foundation. Given that it's a special year for Persona in general, and Atlus will be kicking off Persona's 25th anniversary celebration this month, theoretically the game's fifth anniversary would not be a coincidence. Perhaps something Persona 5-related will be announced by Sega and Atlus soon, albeit the developer didn't announce anything for Persona 3's 15th anniversary, so September's announcement could be anything. Still, it'd be nice to hear from the Phantom Thieves just one more time, even if it's another spin-off.
Persona 5 is available now on PS4 and PS5.