No.27120
P5r is definitely the best Persona game mechanically, but the narrative sucks. I think the think I hate the most is how every conflict with your confidants ultimately relies on the Phantom Thieves as deus ex machina to overcome the issue, and the confidants inevitably have the revalation that Joker is a phantom thief, and they're grateful to him for being their savior. It's really unsatisfying to experience, and even moreso if you've actually experienced the same issue that one of the confidants face, because their respective conflicts are super shallow depictions of how such a thing would turn out in real life. And the fact that the protagonist is a necessary component of the narrative beyond just being an inspirational and supportive friend creates a story that seems extremely bleak and hopeless, if not outright insulting, for the characters without the protagonist to depend on. Basically, he's a Mary Sue.
Contrast that to Innocent Sin. The game literally punishes you for intervening in other characters conflicts by giving you tougher battles when you make the decision to intervene, illustrating how its oftentimes harder for a third party to fix your issues than it is to confront them yourself. You literally can't even get their Persona's ultimate forms if you don't let them resolve their own arcs. It encourages you to let your friends fight their own fights in order to grow and flourish, which is absolutely true of real life, too.
It's just so perplexing how hamfisted P5 is, especially considering there's a huge over lap between P5 and the P2 games, thematically. Even in terms of motifs. Joker is the namesake of characters in both games, and cognitive distortions are also a prominent idea in both games, yet, it's so strange how P2 seems less dated and out-of-touch than P5 in depicting those themes.