✦ Talking about my favorite P5R Personas!

I'm not trying to be on theme but if it works..

[Spoilers ahead!]

My favorite Persona that is specific to a character is almost definitely Izanagi-no-Okami - specifically the Picaro version in P5 Royal. Peak palette, absolutely beastly, incredibly OP. It will ruin your game if you want to actually try. I will concede to abusing Myriad Truths many a time, since it comes with Myriad Truths, which does heavy Almighty way before you known Almighty exists, as well as Concentrate/Debilitate and Salvation, which can really make or break a game. I know some people think it's "cheating" if you use it from  the DLC, which I disagree with. While it will mess with your fusion calculator, and is the only reason I regret using it from the DLC instead of waiting to fuse it, it's.. part of the game, you aren't cheating by using what's there.

My favorite Ultimate Persona is Alice - not only is she super cute, but she's also the Ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana, the tarot for one of my favorite characters, Takemi. She makes maxing out Takemi's Confidant well worth it, since she knows Curse skills like Mamudoon, Mugo Boost and Maeigaon, which are super helpful. Her signature attack, Die for Me!, is insanely OP, and she knows it. Combining Die for Me! with a passive like Survival Trick makes her insanely powerful, and probably my favorite Curse using Persona of all time.

When it comes to the starting Personas of the main cast, I'm stuck between Arsène and Cendrillon. I'm well aware that you aren't meant to get attached to Arsène, given that he's almost immediately used as fusion fodder, but he's got such an iconic design and has a special place in my heart. It sucks that he has such an early-game weakness to Bufu attacks, since it would've made him slightly more viable, but I still have a soft spot for him. Cendrillion is such a stunning design, and she perfectly embodies the princess theming that they went with for Yoshizawa. Having Heat Wave and later Vorpal Blade absolutely rules, and really helps with making her feel viable in a team with so many options as is. I do wish her Persona Trait was a little more useful, but when Veil of Midnight comes in handy, it REALLY comes in handy.

As for Third-Tier Personas.. well, I have a lot of options! I have a huge soft spot for Hereward, Célestine, Ella and Lucy, but all the Third-Tier Personas are really well designed and feel pretty well balanced. I love P5R a lot, and I think it shows. Hereward feels like such a perfect blend of Loki and Robin Hood in every aspect, and shows so much of Akechi's growth as a character. I adore Akechi, he means so much to me as a character, and Hereward is such a cool Persona. Rebellion Blade.. slayed, served, destroyed and conquered, I love Rebellion Blade as a skill so much. Ingenious Spirit is also awesome, it helped me so much in the final fight esp since I was using Izanagi-no-Okami and really needed it </3 I romanced Ann in my first playthrough and plan on romancing her again in my current NG+, so I have met Célestine before and loved using her. Not only is she beautifully designed but also has some really impressive skills - her Persona Trait, Pinnacle of Magic, also saved my ass in the final battle. I didn't end up maxing out Yoshizawa's Confidant, so I haven't played with Ella yet, but I think she is positively stunning and a perfect "level up" from Cendrillon & Vanadis design-wise. She's so elegant and the almost glasslike texture on her works excellently, and I love the wedding type theming on her. I can't say a whole lot when it comes to her skills, but Masquerade is a great skill and I'm looking forwards to maxing her out on my NG+ to use it!! I also didn't manage to max out Haru, so my opinions on Lucy are mostly visual; I think Lucy is a perfect design in every way, from the color balance to the theming to the whole outfit itself. It reminds me of femme fatales and female detectives and it really works so well for the whole line of Haru's Personas. I really didn't like Astarte's design, but I think Lucy is so wonderful!! I don't have a whole lot to say about her skills or stats, since I haven't maxed out Haru yet, but I think Cool Customer is going to be crazy useful and skills like Heat Riser & Life Wall will be so welcome!!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Personas of my most special boy, Azathoth and Adam Kadmon. Not only are these some insane designs, working in the religious & Lovecraftian influences perfectly, but they work really well with the story and add so much flavor to Maruki as a character. There are a lot of theories about if outside influence had any impact on Maruki's awakening, if it swayed him towards doing what he did, which really help to give him some more depth as a character. I also love the connections towards other characters and even other games in the series - Azathoth being connected to Morgana's Third-Tier Persona, Mercurius, as well as Futaba's starting Persona, Necronomicon, potentially even connecting to Nyarlathotep from Persona 2 as well.. there's so much potential there, and it really adds so much more. Adam Kadmon also adds a lot of intrigue to just how much control Maruki has over his Personas, especially since it's fused with a Treasure and seems to work completely independent from its owner, unlike the Phantom Thieves or any of the Shadows. The implications that there are things more sinister going on is so good, and it really works to make Maruki seem that much more empathetic but also terrifying. Stats-wise, both of them are absolutely terrifying, and are bosses that a lot of players understandably struggled with. The variation in the different stages of the Azathoth boss fight are very fun but very frustrating, and while Adam Kadmon is a little "power of friendship"... I won't pretend I didn't tear up a little.

This game means so much to me and I love it so much T~T I could honestly talk about it for hours but I've infodumped enough as is. We <3 autism