Persona on Game Passs

Persona games. These games are kind of long (100 hrs 5, 65 hours 3, 4 about 35).  Story wise they are ok -some variant of teenage angst and identity issues.  Turn-based, nice.  However, sometimes the structure of the games and the feeling of bloat (especially around the "social" links) seems annoying.  The games are structured into days with mostly after school and evening activities.  Unfortunately, there is not a ton to do in the evenings.  Then there are forced events that don't always let you do what you want to on certain days. Also, very heavy on Japanese stuff that i was not familiar with (especially the questions).

Persona games have the same themes but tackle it a slightly different story way. Persona 3 had the dark hour and Tartarus. Persona 5 had stealing people's warped desires and Mementos.  Persona 4 has this weird TV thing when it rains at midnight (and going through the TV) - kind of more of a mystery (so far).

Persona 3's end boss was a pain (female character) - 12or 13 forms, i only won because i play the easiest setting (otherwise boss would have instakilled my Player Character 2x).  I didn't realize i could change tactics in that game until the last boss (and the AI does some stupid stuff - especially with wasting magic on buffs/debuffs).  The collecting/crafting of personas is kind of a pain (that i'll largely ignore).  Persona 3 was bad on this with the "shuffle play" - annoying mini game where you pick a moving card to get a reward.  Then there was a boss that had a roulette type component.  In fact, Persona 3 used mini games too much for my liking. Persona 3 game plus does let you keep your level though (just started it up to see what carried over).

i thought that Persona 5 was done a little better.  There weren't really minigames (a plus). it was a little more straightforward in getting personas - knock down an enemy and then "convince" them to join you - though that dungeon (Mementos) was pretty long.

Person 4 seems better at first play than 3. At least they tamed the card thing a little bit. However, getting anything other than the bad ending requires a little work (or guide) - really, a 6 or so text choice thing.  The true ending was more straightforward. Also, when it rains there is little you can do. i had 2 playthroughs (about 75 hours) getting the bad ending and the true ending. The base gameplay remains the same (and is ok).  It is the frills i'm not fond of. 

I got so tired of, what i consider to be virtually useless, social links - limited times/days you can contact characters, etc.  It is more of a chore for the benefit of crafting high end "personas" than anything else. If you want the achievements, use a guide (there are missable books and stuff) - some missable if you don't accept the correct social link for that day.