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I really love the SMT/Persona games. This is great way for players to re-explore Persona 5, and I think it is a good introductory title to Persona for the newcomer. I don't exactly think that this title challenged me as much as other installments of SMT/Persona or other JRPGs. I don't really recall any dungeon being too difficult to prepare for. After the first dungeon, it is really easy to min-max and complete dungeons in one in-game day. There's lots of options as well as perks that make my life easier. Building bonds with confidants really helps, and it is easier to manage between different party members. This title encourages you to really use every party member, and there are ways to get the most out of all of them. There still is META involved, but I had a blast changing up the party often as well as switching in the middle of battles. There were a few optional bosses that gave me a decent enough challenge, where having social links maxed out was really what saved me. (good dungeoneering that is dependent on careful decisions and maxing in simulator part of game)
As someone who previously played Persona 5, it was easy for me to play this game blind and figure out how to get the "true" ending. New Game+ has lots of cool content within it, and helps players get the "true" ending if they didn't get it on their first playthrough. That being said, it is a large climb just to get to the end of the game. (at least 100 hours) That can be good or bad for players. For me, I like the length of play, however it makes me really question when I'm going to revisit this game and do a NG+ run.
Persona 5 Royal is a great installment in the franchise. It is stylish and has lots of modern elements, as well as infuses SMT mechanics and has an amazing dungeon-crawling experience. For me, JRPGs, as well as most games, are all about finding the min-maxing. This game was very error-free and easy to min-max, so that makes it less exciting. The story and the stylish, entertaining narrative kept me going though. Like any Persona game, there is a great story and great concept here. I still think that Persona 4 Golden is the best, and that the characters and story have the most depth and made a lasting impression on me. Persona 5 Royal is not the best Persona game, but it is a great Persona game.
]]>GTD has been tremendously helpful in not replacing my habits or other time management methods, but rather it does so much to expand on it. I actually found that GTD was very intuitive and easy to get into. The book emphasizes comfortable work environments to maximize workflow. Org mode is, in my experience, the workflow that emulates GTD. There are a lot of agenda and calendar programs out there, but this beautiful program maximizes time management and allows me to actually accomplish tasks.
Using Org to creater headlines and many levels, as well as using [/] and [%] to track progress, makes scheduling and task/time management like I am managing a quest/side-quest menu in a video game. It is actually fun for me. There is a sense of celebration of accomplishment in Org mode. There is also a lack of overwhelming energy in adding TODO's, as I am organized in addition of tasks as well as managing ongoing and rainyday/wishful thinking tasks. For once, I can say that agenda-ing has become fun. Not just life-hack-fun, but genuine fun. Below is a short snippet of my configuration using org-agenda. All of my agenda org files are in ~/org and I have several files in this, which org-agenda makes it a breeze to keep track of.
;; A basic configuration for Agenda (require 'org) (add-hook 'org-mode-hook #'visual-line-mode) (setq org-directory "~/org/" org-agenda-files (list org-directory) org-tags-column -60 ;; TODO keywords and log settings org-todo-keywords '((sequence "TODO(t)" "WAIT(w!)" "|" "CANCEL(c!)" "DONE(d!)")) org-log-done 'time org-log-into-drawer t org-insert-heading-respect-content t org-M-RET-may-split-line '((default . nil)) ;; Calendar mark settings org-hide-emphasis-markers nil calendar-mark-holidays-flag t) ;; Keybindings for Org (global-set-key (kbd "C-c l") #'org-store-link) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c a") #'org-agenda) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c c") #'org-capture)
Another form of time management that I utilize is the pomodoro technique as well as block scheduling. Pomodoro and Block scheduling are made a lot easier because of Org mode. GTD helps me figure out which methods are most applicable for different projects. Pomodoro has been helpful for working on ongoing tasks, like studying or work-related tasks that have no real true end. Block scheduling has been helpful in mapping out very busy days, where there are a lot of places to be and no real room for time to spare. Block scheduling is made easy with org-agenda's formats. I use org-pomodoro on Emacs as my primary means for pomodoro timing. It is very useful as I can use my agenda files and also clock in how much time I spent on them. This is a very healthy way to task, as it encourages breaks and rewards yet also keeps your mind from wandering elsewhere. I have forked the org-pomodoro code to update it, as well as add more features to make this timer more integral with tracking with the quality features and also in principle to GTD.
This post was a mere reflection and promotion of Emacs and Org mode helping me get things done. The real heroes are elsewhere. Here are some resources to help, if you are interested in further reading.