u/Otherwise_Ad_1854

idk if this really counts as nsfw but ill add the tag anyways

ive been super into the entire persona series for a little over a year at this point, but no song has stuck with me quite like freedom and peace

first off, i wanna begin by saying this review is coming from a perspective of someone who has been composing and producing music for 4+ years (piano for 4 years, fl studio for 3 years and drums for just a little under a year) so while im not the MOST talented musician i atleast know SOME stuff

first ill go into what makes this song so good in the context of the game (major spoilers ahead ofc, just wanna put you guys in the right mindset) - this being the theme of the final palace for the main game of Persona 5 (2nd to last if youre counting the big road to Jaldabaoth), and the 2nd to last (or 3rd) for royal

before this moment, you had just defeated Shido - the one that you had thought to be ruling over all of this - his fight is incredibly hype, difficult, but above all else satisfying

time starts moving, and the thieves start to realize something is off - the phantom thieves are beginning to be treated as if they never existed, and that the true enemy of the thieves was the very public you were trying to appeal to in the first place

knowing this, they travel to the depths of mementos to find nothing like theyve ever seen before - every other palace in the game was in one way or another, cartoonish or had some form of comedic relief - silly visuals that hid beneath a deeper meaning - but in the depths of mementos, there is no such thing

wires of what look to be blood pump into cells with humans strapped to chairs, theres cages full of dolls insisting that they dont want to be let out - anyways, lets get into the music

a descending bassline with a repetitive melody - the bassline invokes a feeling of dread, while the melody and by extension the guitar that comes in and out throughout the song invokes a hopeful feeling - these people are trapped by reality, but lack the strength to resist the distortion chaining them down - if youre paying attention, youd notice that when the drum groove kicks in, theres a low tom playing at the beginning of every beat

in some traditional japanese culture, low pitched drums can often represent a heartbeat, or some kind of form of nature - intentional or not, id like to think this represents the entirety of humanities heartbeat collectively pulsating, fueling the holy grail

at the 0:58 mark theres a beautiful refrain that does return later in the song, but ill touch on it now due to the fact that while the drum groove stays, the low tom at the beginning of each beat does not - i think this could be a metaphorical yearning that everyone in the depths has to break free from the holy grail - not only that, but it also lacks the bassline i was talking about earlier as "invoking a sense of dread" in the listener

after this moment, an extra layer of organ keys are played over a more harmonized guitar section, that i cant seem to find any way to interpret it BUT it does make the song all the more better sonically, which i havent even BEGUN to touch on (and probably wont because im lazy)

after this moment, theres yet another refrain of what was happening at the beginning of the song, only lacking the bassline - before it comes back in a completely different style, which id like to think represents yet another way that the general public is trying to break free from the hold that the holy grail has on them

thats all from what i interpret sections of the song as - finally i want to point out something that i find a bit fascinating about the general music side of things

another redditor in this subreddit ( u/aNastyCrimeBoy ) pointed out in this post that freedom and peace and "the days when my mother was there" seem to share the same general melody, but the only way it differs is in mood, tempo, key, etc - it could just be a variation of production, but a part of me wants to believe that theres some kind of connection to how during Futaba's arc, she closed herself out from the outside world due to trauma with her mother - i could try and connect this to how the general public chooses to avert their eyes from the truth in favor of an easier life under the holy grail, but i cant seem to find any connection to this with Futaba's trauma. - of course, i could just be reading far too into these things, but hey its fun to theorize ( then again, as mentioned in the post; "Tokyo Daylight" also sends to share some of these traits, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

and just in general, the song is really good and well composed

sorry if my thoughts seem really scattered, but thanks for reading if you made it this far !! id love to hear your thoughts in the comments

ive had these thoughts for about... i dunno 3 months since i completed episode aigis and i just wanted somewhere to talk about it (none of my friends HEAVILY fw persona... yet)

i can understand people disliking it for the fact that theres a price tag on it whereas in FES it came included with the game - but i dont understand why people outright hate it

i can understand why the gameplay can be boring to some people (especially considering most people playing this DLC will have just experienced 264 floors of Tartarus gameplay) but personally i found the gameplay loop really enjoyable and the scenes between the characters and flashback sequences you get at the end of each zone are always a treat to me - metis is still a great character to me and its especially fun to have full control over her, she almost never leaves my party during repeat playthroughs

of course its not all perfect, i think the ui couldve been a lot better and Aigis' run animation looks a bit scuffed to me - but overall i think its a great expansion for people that wish for a bit more content out of p3r AND i think its a good remake of the answer

another hot take ::: people hate ATLUS for removing the scene were Yukari attempts to steal the key from Aigis, but while i think its weird they removed it i dont think it RUINS the entire experience like other people say

(PS: sorry if this seems like it was written pretty half assed, im bad at expressing opinions & compiling them into something neat and readable) any questions regarding the reasons i think its fun or any of my opinions i will answer them in the comments !! id love to talk to somebody about this kind of thing

been getting back into spelunky hd and spelunky 2 recently and this death reminded me of a certain fun quirk: stepping on the wrong pixel at the wrong time will result in an instant death