Persona 5 Royal2019

The last 10 days of my life have basically just been Persona 5. I completely neglected real life, ended up with 144 hours of playtime on Steam, and I don't regret a single second of it. Going in, I knew nothing about Persona. I'd heard a few banger soundtracks, recognized 2-3 characters from seeing them around and wondered why they were dressed like that, and knew it was turn-based. That's it, that's all I had. 144 hours later, I can say I love this game. The insanely cool art style, the charm it has, the music, and especially the characters. I never expected to fall this hard for it. I'm generally a big turn-based RPG fan, so I figured I'd probably enjoy it, but I did not expect that spending time with these characters, following their stories and everything they go through, and just settling into the daily rhythm of the game would end up being my favorite part of the whole experience. And on top of that, it's easily one of the best turn-based games I've ever played, and one of the best JRPGs, period. It also gave me a bit of a crazy JoJo vibe from the Personas themselves, with a touch of Death Note energy sprinkled in (hope someone else picks up on that haha). Difficulty wise it was a bit too easy for my personal taste, but that honestly makes it perfect for beginners, especially if you've never touched a turn-based game or JRPG before. I genuinely don't understand how I didn't play this sooner, what was wrong with me. This game has everything I love: an incredible story, well written and cool characters, a great world, and amazing music. What more do you want? I got so attached to this game and its characters that saying goodbye to them made me genuinely sad, but just as happy hearing how their futures turn out and seeing how everyone grew stronger in their own way along the way. If I managed to convince even one person to play this, I hope your "life will change" the same way mine did. And there's no better time to jump in, with a Persona 4 remake and Persona 6 both on the horizon. I'm already planning my Persona 3 run next, plus a second playthrough of this one. What more could you want.