Persona 5 in 3 hours: Take Your Time or No?

If you’ve ever been around any anime forums, you might have heard of the infamous “three episode rule”, which is a guideline that some anime fans use to judge whether a show is worth their time. The idea is to watch three episodes of an anime series, and if the anime is able to make a strong impression on you by the end of those three episodes, then it’s worth continuing on, otherwise, move on to something else.

The same rule can also be generally applied for games. And it’s especially important for them because unlike TV and anime, games actively ask for the player’s commitment. And with so many games nowadays, it’s often much easier for a gamer to lose interest in a game if they don’t find it immediately engaging to play with. Therefore, a game’s opening is paramount in determining its success, and designers over the years have used many techniques to hook players in. Whether that be the prospect of an enticing narrative, an interesting setting, or simply fun gameplay.

And so with that in mind, this is Persona 5 in 3 hours, a series on video game openings, how they draw players in, how they keep them interested, and sometimes, how they scare them away.

Disclaimer: I will be spoiling the opening of Persona 5, so be warned. 

Wait what’s happening right now?

I love the Persona series,  I find them to be among the best JRPG’s series I have ever played. However, I’ve noticed that Persona games often get a bad rep for having very long openings, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the Persona formula. Now while I do agree with this criticism to a certain extent, I personally found that Persona 5 brilliantly executed its opening hours. In fact, it is my favorite opening out of the Persona games I have played. And for those who wanna know, I’ve played Persona 3, 4 and 5.

So what exactly makes Persona 5’s opening so much better than its predecessors? To answer this, we first need to know about the term “In medias res”. For those who don’t know what that is, In media res means “in the middle of things” in Latin. It is a very popular narrative technique where the writer starts the story in the middle, usually at its most crucial point. The story will then use flashbacks to tell earlier events in the story in order to explain how we arrived at this moment in time.

The reason In Media Res is used so much in narrative writing is its ability to allow the writers to basically skip all the initial setup, and immediately immersing us in its story right off the bat. It is also a very effective tool in setting up a mystery; its narrative structure naturally allows us to speculate on how the story and characters got to this point in time.

Don’t expect to walk out of here in one piece.

In Persona 5, the writers cleverly use In medias res to immerse us much quicker than in previous games. The story starts right in the middle of an exciting heist. We see the hero (let’s call him Ren) confidently avoiding guards, looking to escape. However, he ultimately fails and is captured by the police. He is brought back to the police station and is interrogated by the prosecutor Sae Nijima. It is here where we see Ren at his lowest point, with the game even hinting heavily towards his supposed demise.

With seemingly no way to escape, he can only resign to fate. Sae Nijima then asks him questions that will be at the very heart of the mystery of Persona 5.

• When and where did you find out about that world?
• How is it even possible to steal another’s heart?

The questions are clearly worded to be as vague as possible. This is so that we the audience can recall them subconsciously as they progress through the game. As a result, we will then set up our expectations with the story, and in turn, be hooked in before it even properly begins.

Just don’t cause any trouble, got it?

It is at this point that the story finally moves back in time to the very beginning. We see Ren walking through the streets of Tokyo, trying to find his new home. When he arrives, we expect him to be given a warm welcome, since, in previous games, that was what happened. However, we quickly find out that things aren’t going to be that easy for Ren. In fact, things are going to be very hard for him from here on out. Pretty much everyone around him doesn’t want to have any association with him whatsoever. That includes his guardian, his teachers, and his classmates. We find that the reason for this is because he was previously charged with assault, and is thus serving his probation period in Tokyo after his previous school expelled him.

While it makes sense for everyone to treat him with scorn, the same can’t be said for us the audience. This is because we find out that these charges are based on false claims, so Ren is actually innocent. Nevertheless, we can only watch as Ren is thrown into an unfamiliar world, with pretty much all of society going against him.  You see, Ren has actually been at his lowest point from the very beginning; not just from when he was captured. And since we know for a fact that he is innocent (at least before he started dealing with the Phantom Thieves business), we naturally want to root for him to break out of his “imprisonment” and succeed.

Was your previous decision a mistake then?

It is not long before the story finally arrives at a breakthrough. Ren is on his way to school and bumps into a fellow classmate named Ryuji. They walk together for a bit before arriving, however, the school is not as it should be. Rather, it resembles a castle more than an actual school. Hesitantly, they enter the “school”, and before Ryuji could even utter an effin’ swear word, they are captured by the guards clad in knight armor. Moments later, they wake up in a jail cell, and the King of the castle Kamoshida comes in, greeting them with a punch in the gut.

Now Ren is put in a predicament similar to before. Ryuji is about to be killed, and he is once again powerless to stop it…or is he?

No, things are different this time around.

This time a mysterious voice speaks to Ren’s consciousness, asking him if what he did before (saving the woman from being assaulted) was a mistake. Since we know that it wasn’t, we, along with Ren answer back, confirming our resolve. It is here that Ren gets his first chance at redemption. A chance to fight back against the ones who have wrongfully chained him. A chance to fight back against the ones who abandoned him, the ones who want to see him fall.

Ren has finally obtained the power of Persona.

Conclusion

It’s at this point where I was truly immersed in his journey of rehabilitation. This is the main reason why I find Persona 5’s opening to be the best, despite it still being a bit lengthy. Unlike Persona 3 and 4 where we only get to see our main characters struggle well within the story. In Persona 5, the main conflict is shown right from the get-go, and with the brilliant use of In media res, Persona 5 expertly sets up its mystery and the main character before immediately sweeping you right along to a journey you’ll never forget. So take your time, savor every moment you can, because we all know.

You’ll never see it coming.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. I know that some might not agree with what I said, so let me know what you think! If you enjoyed reading this, consider following me on social media. Also, consider subscribing to get immediate updates on when I put out my next post. Thanks again and I’ll see you next time!