it's definitely a persona game. i got screwed over a little because the tutorial forced me to fuse the protagonist's default persona and i didn't have the yen to summon it from the registry until after the subsequent dungeon run. the only personas i had acquired previous to that tutorial section would fuse into personas out of my level range. i think i just got very unlucky there. probably should have loaded an earlier save. maybe could have registered the persona before i was forced to fuse it but i don't remember that being an option. the result is that the protagonist's default persona is severely under-leveled (~5, while all characters are at ~10) and it's taking a lot of time and effort to get it to where it should be. this whole ordeal is kind of frustrating

i'm loving the quality of life improvements they've implemented. they've surfaced where your team is for s-linking purposes and when you're going to finish a book so no more guesswork there. travelling to nearly any location on the hub map (including stores) from any location on the hub map is super helpful. the wrinkles they've introduced into the combat seem to add a lot to it. it's easier to grind for yen since you can extort personas for money. negotiating to obtain personas was a little annoying at first but once i got the tutorial about persona personality types it became a lot easier

i spent about 5 minutes in the menus just looking at the transition animations... not sure i can say anything about the art design of this game that hasn't been repeated ad nauseam. it's an amazing looking game. it's great seeing these personas rendered in a much higher quality. they look very similar to the the cards/stats screen art in P4, which is really cool

story is good so far. very dark right off the bat. i'm seeing a few analogs to P4 characters but i'm sure that will change over time as the characters develop more. i'm think i'm love with the doctor

i'm really enjoying my time with this game. already in that persona mindset of trying to remember which shops have specials on certain days and how to maximize my in-game free time. i'm very much looking forward to the development of the story, characters, and combat