I highly recommend the game, but I totally get you. I didn't buy it for years for the exact same reason. Eventually it was on a good sale when I was between games so I got a chance to play it. If you're an anime fan you will probably love the game. And if you're not, it may be cringy as fuck on occasion but you'll probably still love the game after getting sucked in. But if you end up never playing it, that's totally fine too. I've found in life that you don't need to watch every movie and play every video that are highly praised. I still haven't played the Mass Effect games even after owning all of them for 5 or so years.
I've found in life that you don't need to watch every movie and play every video that are highly praised.
You're absolutely right and I'm glad I reread that sentence: at first I somehow missed the "don't" and was gearing up for a long and pointless rebuttal of what I THOUGHT I just read 😄
Personally, I'm a sucker for long completion time. I only like specific types of games that don't get released that often, so I'm always in danger of running out of games I haven't replayed to death yet 😁
Most of it being cutscenes is a huge negative if not an outright dealbreaker to me, though.
I do feel like some of these games lose their premise if they grind on for too long. I think Haru Okumura's dungeon is one of the more inspired, but by the time you get there, the game loop has gotten stale. Then the finale is just an interminably long series of hallways.
They could have compressed that game by half (especially towards the back end), keyed up on the drama, and maybe fleshed out the daytime normal-life content a bit more.
But I say that within the context of a game with a truly captivating story, some solid twists and top 10 anime betrayals, and a charming romance system that draws you into the characters. Had a great experience on my playthrough. Can't imagine ever trying to play it again, but it was a wild ride the first time.
This is a different type of RPG, but I've been playing Wrath of the Righteous and it takes forever to complete. There's a specific city dungeon alone that takes real life days to finish if you do everything.
It’s one of those games with a fun grind. With how snappy the UI and everything is, nothing ever really feels like a chore. I played Xenoblade Chronicles recently and I think it took my 50lbs to beat, but those 50lbs felt longer than Persona’s 100+ hours.
I like Xenoblade more personally anyway, but just wanted to share my experience.
I can't think of a single remotely modern JRPG with required grinding. It's usually that you have the choice between learning how the game works or overleveling to brute force everything. People then do the latter and don't even realize the former was an option.
If it's not for you it's not for you, but I will say the Persona series took a big turn for the better around Persona 3. The modern ones don't have a whole lot in common with the first couple beyond some basic play structure. If the last one you played was on the PS1 and you're at all interested in an anime JRPG then P5 is worth a second look.
Yeah the last anime JRPG I really liked was the original Xenogears. Unless Nier counts.
But lots of people love Persona, and I think that's awesome. Rock what you like!