So far, the combat has been the greatest improvement ATLUS has made to the Persona formula. You don't need to wait several dungeons in to have access to extremely diverse party comps with the archetype system, From the very first post-prologue dungeon, and the side ones from bounty missions, there are already so much mechanics thrown your way to give variety.

Encounters are no longer about only finding enemy weaknesses and then spamming the All Out Attack, which was something that was quite basic even at the highest difficulties, it certainly is in comparison with this. It shows how lopsided the One More system is in the player's favor, hitting weaknesses now still offer reward, but it's preparation strategy with archetypes and overworld movement that matters most.

The way you approach enemies in the overworld matters too, weak enemies are defeated quickly without the need for turn based battles, enemies around your level can be caught off guard or can ambush you, waiting around corridors, very tough enemies you may want to sneak around to get the items they are guarding, some enemies are very good at ambushing so starting squad battle and denying them of it is a great tactic.

This couples with the enemy design as well, boss fights with humans (Almost some combination of biblical angels and Attack on Titan giants). Follow some pattern of breaking body parts that serve different functions. I'm glad they were able to take their shadow designs and turn it up to 11 with a more vibrant color palette to create a very mysterious, menacing enemy that is highly tied to the game's unfolding narrative.

If this is how this new IP will be, and if I remember correctly about their comments of making this its own series. I might prefer this to Persona, I don't have to take for granted the idea that JRPGs are games that prioritize story, but are beholden to rote combat and random encounters that require no thought outside of boss battles. I hope to see what they will come up with in the future.

This game has improved a lot on gameplay, the wound system feels much more natural than Iceborne's Clutch Claw. The armors look very good, I feel much better than World's (I'm currently still in LR). The story has also greatly benefited from the addition of close up facial animations, a colloquial English that feels much more authentic than a lot of "eastern" games or the last installment, and more focus on action and the monsters, I wouldn't say the characters are particularly deep, it's still a Monster Hunter story. It's more that they focus on the things that make Monster Hunter great.

Given all of that, the game still underperforms even with very high end cards, and relies on being brute forced. Many of the textures don't load in properly, those happen to look like PS3 level textures. There's this trend with current triple As to release unpolished games that get patched over a year before a lot of the expected features are actually implemented. You might survive with frame gen, since the game's combat is a slower one, and not requiring frame perfect input like fighting games. I feel players shouldn't have to put up with this, even when I still can enjoy the game (I haven't had any crashes).