The title kind've says it all, but a little background on me. I grew up on Final Fantasy and JRPGs in general. I've never played a Persona game but from everything I've seen this game looks really interesting. As a counterpoint, every recommendation has said something along the lines of "if you like JRPGs and enjoy anime etc etc etc" which I cannot say I do. I'm not sure what to do but I am pretty close to rolling the dice and buying this, I guess I wanted to check if anyone was in a similar boat as me and found the game fun.

The game has a LOT of Japanese culture (not just anime). But if that look isn't your deal and you have little interest in Japanese culture, you're probably going to have a rough go with it.

That's not to say you'll hate it, but YMMV especially as it sounds like more fantasy is your thing (FF, Tales of, etc).

Unless a talking cat and the visual style itself bugs you, it's not really "anime". A bigger detriment for me was how grindy and lame the dungeons were. If you don't mind some tedium in with all of the game's good points, I'd say go for it.

I mean, are you sure you don't like anime? Anime is just cartoon from Japan and encompasses so much. FF, JRPGs, and anything coming out of Japan, there is a high probability it's at least anime influenced. If you like what you see, I'd say go for it.

@madman356647: I actually think the style looks rather slick. I don't mind a decent grind unless its absolultey tedious.

@madman356647 I wouldn't say high fantasy is necessarily my thing, I just never got into anime and want to make sure its not an absolute deal breaker

@seauton: The grind ain't bad (you can always drop the difficulty and walk right through everything.

But like I said, YMMV.

I have never watched an anime, and don't really have much interest in watching one. I also don't really play JRPGs. I played Persona 5 despite all that and it became one of my favorite games ever. Go for it.

Nooo! I'm not into anime and I'm really enjoying Persona 5.

If the game interests you then you should try it. I know P4 drew in plenty of non-JRPG and non-anime types, so I see no reason you can't be one of them.

You could describe Persona as "very anime" and "very Japanese" in a lot of ways, but I don't feel like you need an pre-existing appreciation of either to enjoy this. A lot of the game's themes are very universal. And it's never a bad idea to go outside your comfort zone now and then and try new things.

I think you're gonna be just fine. I have friends of varying interest levels in anime that all managed to get into it. It's not gonna be outrageously different from whatever other JRPGs you've played, anyway. It's not a requirement to watch anime to "get" it in the same way that you don't have to watch National Treasure to "get" Uncharted. It's just easy to recommend it to anime/JRPG fans because it's a JRPG with a very anime-like presentation.

@redhotchilimist@zeik@nick@theloyaltraitor@madman356647@liquiddragon alright, think I may go it. Thanks for the insight all

You're welcome! Hope you like it.

There's not too much about Persona that has ever been "anime" feeling like that to me. I mean, some aspects but really small amount compared to most. Anime is very hit or miss for me and I think Persona is a great series that stands out.

I hate animes and JRPGs, and have never played a Persona game before.

I played Persona 5 and it's my favourite game of the year. It fulfilled everything I wanted out of Mass Effect Andromeda that that game didn't give me: team building a group of fun, interesting characters and addictive, snappy combat.

@katygaga: well this is extremely encouraging. I sunk about 70 begrudging hours into ME:A and wasn't happy about it at all.

you can just watch Giantbomb's endurance run of persona 4 and see if you like it, if you do then you'll like p5.

Persona 4 is more anime then Persona 5. Watch some endurance run and if you can stomach what is in Persona 4. Persona 5 shouldn't be a big deal.

Even if you don't like anime, I think that the graphical style is used very well to create a Capital S sense of Style in the game, so you probably won't have too much of a problem with it.

What you might have a problem with is the structure of the game. As great as it is stylistically, I found it disappointing that it wasn't as bold in terms of gameplay or story. Underneath all its great visual and auditory accents it's a very (very) traditional JRPG. That means lots of grinding, lots of Teen Angst About Life, and some pretty linear dungeons. It feels like a missed opportunity to shake up the genre.

I have a very love/hate relationship with it. I really want to like it, but I gave up after the 4th dungeon because I just couldn't take the combat and linear corridors anymore.

I don't watch anime. I enjoyed the hell out of Persona 5. Your fondness for JRPGs is a much better barometer for how you'll feel about the game.

I'm someone who has enjoyed some anime but doesn't watch them with any frequency or fervor. After watching the Persona 4 endurance run and watching the QL and some other videos of P5 I think the writing is really bad in these games. It's like mediocre YA writing.

i bought, put 9 hours into, and then deleted Persona 5. I've tried and tried to enjoy anime, but there is just something about the writing that is always off. This is not the fault of the creators, translation issues are just a sad reality. If you can't handle the frustratingly over explained exposition of an anime then stay far away from this game. I love a good story in a game, but the actual dialogue has to be at least marginally compelling. Some of the worst writing i've seen in a game, just a constant sigh/cringe fest.

Anime is so broad i think alot of people who say they hate anime just watched the wrong genres.

Haven't played 5 but persona kinda lives and dies by how much you get invested in the characters and enjoy the combat. I would just judge it on how much you think you'll like those two things by what you've seen so far, not by how anime it is. There is also a big social link thing where you spend days building relationships with the characters(both main and side), and from what i've seen it's the same in 5. It honestly gives persona it's charm to me, it's not really like any other jrpg's i've ever played so if that sounds cool give it a shot. you could also check out the persona 4 endurance run on here, it gives a good idea of what to expect and it's pretty entertaining.

Do you actively dislike anime, or you just aren't interested? I don't care about anime (it's fine, just not into it) and I'm enjoying it a lot.

I don't think you need to like JRPGs or anime to like Persona, I certainly don't care about either of the former and quite enjoy the latter. To me, the biggest thing to caution someone about is the terrible treatment of women and the LGBTQ crowd in Persona 5.

You grew up on Final Fantasy and JRPGs? I got news for you, buddy. You like anime.

^^^^^^^^^

Anime is a medium. It has everything from silly school comedies to slow introspective looks at lifestyles and relationships. That said, there are some common tropes used in the medium and you will find a few here. Nothing too bad, but you might roll your eyes a few times.

Persona 5 is a lot more Japan-centric than the last few games, and I'd say the flaws of Japanese society are a bigger focus of the story and the characters slightly less so. It is, however, a good introduction to the series and a pretty fun hame in its own right. If Persona 3 & 4 are too intimidating to you, this is a good place to start.

The worst that can happen is that you get bored and stop playing.

I don't watch a lot of anime either, but I enjoyed this game.

@thatonedudenick: Just not interested. I don't have anything against it but never really watched it and don't see myself starting now (I'm 30, pretty much know my interests).

I feel people have a misunderstanding of what anime means. All anime is animation from Japan. People think anime teenagers with giant swords and over-sexualized girls fighting a giant evil thing. But it could literally be anything, Mecha, romance, shonen, comedy, horror, whatever.

While there are a couple of series I enjoy I don`t care for anime in general and Persona 5 is my current GOTY. I do enjoy Japan centric media like the Yakuza game series though, so that is definitely part of the reason it appealed to me.