Persona 5 5 Reasons Why It s a Dating Sim & 5 It s Not

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Persona 5 5 Reasons Why It s a Dating Sim & 5 It s Not

Persona 5 is a huge JRPG that covers a lot of genres, but does Atlus's game also qualify as a dating sim? With Persona 5 Royal's release on the horizon, the hype surrounding is in full effect once again. For players familiar with the series, this may mean returning for one more playthrough to refamiliarize themselves with the game, but new players who missed this game the first time around might be looking into it and scratching their heads. After all, what is Persona 5? It's a JRPG, sure, but what does that mean beyond its literal definition? The story serves as social commentary and sees players going on a journey that heavily emphasizes social interactions like a dating sim, but also has players adventuring like in an RPG. It begs the question, then, of what kind of game is Persona 5 really? Is it a dating sim? Is it an RPG? In this list, we'll take a look at what makes Persona 5 a little bit of both. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Is A Dating Sim The Romance Option

It's hard to overlook the thing that makes dating sims just that; the goal of starting a romance with your favorite character. If you've ever played a Persona game, you've no doubt been faced with the grueling question of . While this article will not get into the age-old Persona debate of who is best girl since (since everyone knows its Makoto, anyway), this particular aspect of the game, along with granting players access to fun extra cutscenes and other small boons, gives this otherwise intense game a very dating sim feel.

Not A Dating Sim Irresponsible Romance

While the romancing aspect of social interaction is certainly there, it's also very easy to get irresponsible with this aspect of the game. Yes, we mean exactly what you're thinking: Every character that players have the option of romancing can be romanced, and all during the same save file. What makes this such an excellent example of why Persona 5 isn't a dating sim is the fact that having nine girlfriends...well, it doesn't affect the game all that much. Sure, it makes Valentine's Day a little awkward, but that's about it. If this were a dating sim, it wouldn't be a very good one.

Is A Dating Sim Social Interactions

A lot of dating sims emphasize social interactions in order to progress the player's favor with certain characters. In Persona 5, the number one way to bolster your relationships is by hanging out with your friends outside of school, work, and Phantom Theif business. Of course, this involves everything from grabbing a bite to eat or working out together after class, all the way to going on adventures in neighboring towns and cities. These are dates, let's be real, and while Atlus seems keen on hiding it, Persona 5 has many elements associated with dating sims.

Not A Dating Sim Social Interaction Benefits

It seems like Atlus was aware of how social interactions could expose Persona 5 as a dating sim and, as a result, the studio did something that distracts players from that aspect. Mainly, players are incentivized to develop relationships in order to enhance other aspects of the game. For example, taking relationships past a certain point with fellow members of the Phantom Thieves allows them to perform extra moves during battle. This positive feedback loop seems far more RPG leaning than dating sim leaning.

Is A Dating Sim Personal Social Stats

In this game and like others before it, comes with a built-array of personal attributes. These attributes are knowledge, guts, proficiency, charm, and kindness. Looking at this and knowing that ranking up these attributes will open up more social possibilities in-game really makes a strong case for Persona 5's dating sim status. For example, being more charming lets Joker say clever things during social interactions. Meanwhile, being knowledgeable allows the protagonist to take their friends on unique dates. Lastly, Joker needs enough guts to ask that friend on the date, to begin with. All of this screams dating sim.

Not A Dating Sim Arcana Stats

A huge aspect of the Persona series is the influence of the Tarot, and how each relevant social link represents a major arcana of the standard tarot deck. Yes, advancing those relationships feels like dating sim content, but the boons of these arcana stats play hugely into the RPG aspect. For example, Personas of a certain arcana won't get fusion benefits if that social link hasn't been established yet. Because of this, a lot of players emphasize establishing and filling out those social links in order to fill out their compendium and fuse the best and most powerful Personas so they would be registered and ready for the next playthrough.

Is A Dating Sim Social Freedom

While the story certainly quickly establishes that freedom isn't something provided to a troublesome youth, eventually, 's ward lightens up and gives the protagonist the freedom to spend his after school hours however he pleases. This may seem like a small thing, but leaving a lot of the game open-ended and minimally restricting seems to subtly nudge players towards pursuing the dating sim aspects. By giving players essentially a deadline and telling them "You're free to do whatever you want as long as you complete the objective by this day," ends up meaning that players can increase their own personal stats and, even better, rank up their social links.

Not A Dating Sim A Definitive Objective

Unfortunately, it's not feasible to pick up a Persona game and just ignore the passing of time and the completion of the story-driven objective in favor of getting your favorite girl to like you. You can certainly try, but it's a guaranteed path to a game over. A dating sim probably wouldn't impose a deadline in the way that Persona 5 does. As a result, this is one of those details that makes players think more along the lines of an RPG as opposed to a dating sim, which is admittedly reasonable. Atlus constantly reminds players that they actually have to play the game and story.

Is A Dating Sim The Narrative

It's hard to deny Persona 5's dating sim aspect, especially considering that the game emphasizes those elements so early on. In fact, it's during a trip to the Velvet Room where Igor explains that players need to focus on their relationships. The Protagonist is placed in a situation where the relationships absolutely matter. Because of the simple fact that the game emphasizes it so early, it makes sense that Persona 5 should be considered a dating sim.

Not A Dating Sim Everything Else

Yes, the social aspect of the game makes things seem heavily dating sim leaning. But what about everything else? What about the ? What about the dungeon crawl? What about fusing Personas in order to come up with a team that covers all the bases? Or ranking up team members and their Personas in order to give the next boss a serious run for its money? These concepts all come together in order to make the incredible game that is Persona 5. While there are several details that make it seem like a dating sim, in truth, Persona 5 is a lot of things rolled into one that all add up to produce an amazing game.