I recently completed my first playthrough of P5R.
I think it's the peak of the series. Gameplay-wise, the dungeons are really expressive compared to Persona 3's Tartarus. The puzzles are not dated like the ones in Persona 4.
What really sets it apart from the other two games though is the theme and the setting. I think where a lot of games tend to suffer is how disconnected they are to reality and their fictitious worlds are self-contained.
The game is 10 years old already. It's sad to see the state of the world today. In democratic countries, why do we still fall for the false promises of Shidos and Yaldabaoths?
I know Persona 5 is not the first to deliver its message but that only makes it even more concerning. I can really feel the pessimism of some older artists and media professionals when they say their work has no influence in this world.
It can be quite depressing sometimes. But I guess that can also be the sin of sloth...
That said, I'm interested in what Metaphor is about and what sentiments about the world it expresses.
Herodotus was writing about this stuff 3,000 years ago. Idk i like to think it's better over the centuries but there's always gonna be lying pieces of shit and idiots ready to eat that shit up.
Because the cognitive biases that probably appeared hundreds of thousands of years ago to help our ancestors survive at the time are not going away anytime soon. All kind of shitty leaders learned to exploit those more or less consciously. Self-reflection on personal bias requires a level of education that seems hard to reach for the average population even in developed countries.