the story is good. reminiscent of 4 and i think 3 (i don't remember 3 that well). some of the characters in 5 felt similar to those in 4 but over the course of the past 30 or so hours they have been differentiated. i'm enjoying getting to know everyone. still in love with takemi (confidant rank 7) but i can't pursue romance options until i get an attribute up (charm?)

get those confidant ranks up ASAP. i forgot how powerful you can be when you have good fusion options. i walked over the last story boss because i spent a good amount of time grinding s-links and fusing. ended up with a persona that nulled physical damage while i was around level 25

mementos dungeons seem to be the best way to get good gear early on. gear found in those dungeons would show up hours later in iwai's shop. i think memento dungeons are also how you get more 3-way fusions. they're kind of a pain because the layouts are randomized and the enemies tend to not be a good indicator of how strong the boss is (previous memento boss almost brainwashed me into a game over). i imagine memento dungeons are a gold mine in the mid to late game if your fusing abilities are strong

the wrinkles they've added to the combat and fusing are intriguing. i'm still getting the hang of comboing when status effects proc but i think it's really cool idea. hopefully using those combos is vital to late game encounters. i also like the expanded fusing options. won't reveal too much as i know there are a few people just getting started but you are given a lot of extra things to do with personas. these abilities are revealed at a nice pace as well, keeping your time in the velvet room interesting

i wish this game was a ps4 exclusive instead of a sony exclusive. the limitations imposed by making this game able to run on ps3 are starting to show. once you get past the flashy presentation and fantastic art design you start to see the less polished parts: bad/no anti-aliasing, poor textures, SD-conscious text and overlay. it's a great looking game but my heart aches at how much better it would look if the ps3 hardware was not a consideration