Persona 5 is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games released on the PS4, and quite possibly the greatest JRPG ever made. The wait for this title was an agonizing one, with numerous delays pushing this game’s release from the PS3 to its successor. However, this wait was completely worth it when people look at the end product, which is arguably one of the finest pieces of work the gaming industry has ever churned out.
A large part of what makes Persona 5 so brilliant is its story, which is as engrossing as one might expect in a game from this series. However, while this tale might be excellently written, there are still some kinks that need to be addressed. In fact, some of these issues regarding the story are so extreme that they can be somewhat hard to ignore.
Keeping this in mind, here is everything wrong with the plot of Persona 5.
10 The Woman Who Was Being Harassed By Shido Never Spoke Out To Support Joker
The start of the game sees the protagonist of the game going out of his way to protect a woman who’s being harassed, only for this to backfire and cause his entire life to be turned upside-down.
However, during this entire debacle, why is it that the woman who was being harassed never spoke out against this injustice? She might’ve been scared, but the fact that there was an eyewitness backing her claims would have made convincing the jury way easier.
9 The Concept Of A Mind Palace Seems Awfully Childish
The Mind Palaces might be some of the most interesting dungeons in the Persona series, but one can’t deny how silly and over-the-top they might feel at times.
A person with a superiority complex has a castle for a dungeon? That doesn’t really seem all that subtle, does it? There are several examples like this throughout the game. While they are still fun and visually striking, the Palaces are quite on the nose.
8 Kamoshida Shouldn’t Have Been Allowed To Work In The School For As Long As He Did
Kamoshida is the first antagonist that the Phantom Thieves need to take care of after figuring out the existence of a Mind Palace. However, the situation should never have escalated to the point where these teenagers needed to intervene in the first place.
The rumors surrounding Kamoshida, coupled with his demeanor, should have been more than enough to make the school authorities realize just how horrible of a teacher he was.
7 Ann’s Treatment In The Game Is Suspect
Persona 5 might be an excellent game in many ways, but it definitely won’t win any awards for being a shining example of how to portray women in video games.
One need only look at the numerous ways in which Ann is objectified throughout the game to understand why this is the case. Ann’s depiction is especially strange since Persona 5 does tackle objectification through its writing.
6 The Fact That Joker Can Start A Relationship With A Ton Of Adults Is Extremely Inappropriate
One thing that is infinitely clear from the get-go in Persona 5 is the fact that Joker is a high school student, regardless of how mature he might seem.
So, for his character to kickstart relationships with several mature women who are way above his age seems highly inappropriate. There was little need for Atlus to integrate this feature into Persona 5, especially since the game also included many similarly aged romantic candidates for Joker to pursue.
5 Maintaining A Fan Page For The Phantom Thieves On Social Media Is An Incredibly Stupid Move
While it’s certainly a neat idea to have the Phantom Thieves slowly rise in popularity to the point of them becoming national heroes, the mere idea of fugitives from the law using a social media platform to promote themselves is ridiculously stupid.
It’s a miracle that the authorities never thought about hacking this account and pinpointing the location of the person managing this website. Doing so would’ve brought them closer to Mishima, who would’ve definitely spilled the beans on the Phantom Thieves after being interrogated.
4 Morgana’s Issues With The Group Seemingly Come Out Of Nowhere
Morgana might be one of the most endearing characters in the Persona series, one can’t deny just how stupid his character arc becomes in the middle.
After feeling that the Phantom Thieves were ostracizing him and being unfair towards him, Morgana randomly decides to leave the group and team up with Haru. It is one of the cringiest moments in the entire game. Persona 5 could’ve done without this random change of heart.
3 Going Through Mementos To Access The Final Dungeon Is An Absolute Slog
While the final moments of Persona 5 are considered by many to be memorable — well, for the most part — one can’t deny that a major sticking point in this otherwise great experience is the unending slog through Mementos.
In a game where time management is of the utmost priority, people would obviously be trying to max out their Social Links as quickly as possible and weren’t really focusing on clearing Mementos.
When the game reveals that the final dungeon is at the depth of Mementos, it goes without saying that many gamers were less-than-enthused that they had to deal with this unending slog.
2 The Final Fight Seems Hamfisted For The Sake Of Looking Cool
Another problem that people have with the finale of Persona 5 is the inclusion of Yaldabaoth himself.
Every Persona game tends to have a final boss who has some convoluted backstory that does little to nothing to justify their inclusion in the final sections of otherwise great campaigns. Yaldabaoth, or Demiurge, is generally used as the final boss in Shin Megami Tensei games, but he made his Persona debut in the fifth entry.
1 The Translation Of The Story Is Absolutely Horrible
For a game that hinges on its story to draw in fans, it must be said that the translation of Persona 5 from Japanese to English has been handled with the same level of flair as Final Fantasy VII.
Okay, perhaps the translation isn’t that horrific, but one can’t deny the fact that Persona 5’s translation has been rightfully called out by many as being illegible at times. There’s a reason why Persona 5 Royal decided to rework the script and make it more legible, as not doing so would cause the story to lose some of its impact otherwise.
NEXT: Persona 5: The 15 Best Personas, Ranked
