Very cool, the graphics are beautiful, the story is ok and the gameplay is very simple but efficient. But enough is enough, Atlus launches Persona 6 soon.
Played time: 26hrs
Played time: 26hrs
sucks that this game was released when everyone is sick of persona 5 and hyped for reload, because this game is fucking awesome.
É sempre muito agradável rever os personagens incríveis de Persona 5 e mesmo sendo um spin-off, P5T é lindo, tem uma ótima OST, um combate divertido e boa narrativa.
Mas o principal triunfo mesmo são as adições dos personagens novos, Erina e Toshiro. Principalmente a Erina é uma personagem tão insanamente boa que eu queria que ela tivesse existido no Persona 5 Royal.
Infelizmente, o último reino é HORRÍVEL, sendo uma barrigada completa. O jogo tem 4 chefes e no último reino, temos que batalhar novamente contra 3 deles, o que é inacreditável e claramente filler.
Felizmente o desfecho faz valer a pena a jornada.
Como sempre, Persona 5 me faz sentir em casa ❤️
Mas o principal triunfo mesmo são as adições dos personagens novos, Erina e Toshiro. Principalmente a Erina é uma personagem tão insanamente boa que eu queria que ela tivesse existido no Persona 5 Royal.
Infelizmente, o último reino é HORRÍVEL, sendo uma barrigada completa. O jogo tem 4 chefes e no último reino, temos que batalhar novamente contra 3 deles, o que é inacreditável e claramente filler.
Felizmente o desfecho faz valer a pena a jornada.
Como sempre, Persona 5 me faz sentir em casa ❤️
sometimes i feel like i am pretty obviously the problem. i don't necessarily believe in the "vote with your wallet!" shit because that's been proven not to work as old as 2014 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/03/01/why-its-scary-when-0-15-mobile-gamers-bring-in-50-of-the-revenue/?sh=4ad6b8264065). but i think there is some level of blame to place at my feet for pre-ordering a game i didn't even particularly have high expectations for. hell, the only reason i pre-ordered this thing was because i knew, at some point, i'd want to play it for myself, so why not secure a new copy and be done with it? the pre-order bonus was incredibly insulting (oh joy, i get orpheus picaro and izanagi picaro for free) and it didn't even get me the day one DLC (very much love how this sort of thing doesn't even raise eyebrows anymore). so, i want you all to know, in spite of this, i still tried to have a good time with this game. and, truthfully, it's not that bad. it's just simultaneously not that good either. there isn't anything outstanding or noteworthy here if you aren't already a fan of P5's cast, and even then, i'm tired of these characters.
i think what really sucks my enthusiasm out of this game is how low-effort everything feels. my cynical pet theory is that this was a game that was originally going to be a mobile release in the vein of something like nier reincarnation, but atlus thought they could get away with releasing this at full price on current gen hardware. joke's on me, i did buy the game. still, i don't feel as though enough people have been critical of how little this game demands of its hardware. graphics are stylized to a degree that this could run on 3DS hardware with little issue, the mechanics lack complexity or depth such that every character functionally plays the same with a modest tweak here and there, and there's actually very little strategy required for a tactics game. the very few missions that actually require planning and thought are the side-quests that will ask you to clear the level in one turn by cleverly using its mechanics to their full extent. this is stuff that we should've been seeing in the maingame by the halfway point, not as optional side content. instead, basically every challenge the main missions throw at you can be easily brute-forced. this plays less like a game based around tactics and more one around trial-and-error. the addition of an "undo the previous turn if you make any egregious mistakes" function in the menu certainly doesn't help that accusation.
indeed, this game introduces nearly all of its mechanics pretty early and then never develops them or asks the player to utilize them in uncanny or unexpected ways. there are no surprises in tactica's gameplay, and very little competency is asked of the player. i don't even consider myself a particularly smart/great video game player, but i played on hard mode and only saw the game over screen once (and that was by accident due to misunderstanding an endgame sidequest's objective). nothing about tactica feels challenging and, by extension, interesting. there are a few novel gameplay features here, such as how all-out attacks are handled, but they're given very little cost and are almost trivial to execute. combine that with a persona system that is so simplified it makes raidou blush, and there's ultimately very little going on under the hood which, again, reinforces my belief that this could've run comfortably on my phone. i'm not asking for a new final fantasy tactics, but it is interesting how that game managed to have so much more intrigue in both narrative and gameplay despite also being a spinoff of a popular turn-based JRPG series 20 years ago. the tactics genre hasn't stagnated this much, i think atlus just really assumed the persona 5 fanbase lacks standards for this sort of thing. and, loathe as i am to say it, there is a convincing argument to be made in atlus' favor.
i sound exceptionally negative on this game and it's more because even though the majority of my playthrough was brainless skinner box dopamine collecting, i resent what this game represents more than i find any major flaw with it. not every game has to shoot for the stars, and a lack of ambition hasn't stopped me from enjoying other games. again, it's just the cynicism behind all of this. the story isn't particularly interesting and feels fairly predictable. the P5 cast has been sanded down now and have lost the 3-dimensionality that they had in their original game so now you have futaba saying "sus" and makoto's main thing is how she can be scary sometimes. everyone's going through the motions. i will obviously never know the full story of production here, but i feel such a lack of passion for this game from its own dev team. again, i went into this with dim prospects, and i still managed to walk away underwhelmed. in that sense, maybe 2.5/5.0 is too high.
among other things, i just don't feel like this is a game particularly worth your time. i did roughly 2 playthroughs (big ups to locking like 9 personas to NG+ so i had to do a NG+ playthrough just to get the platinum), and i couldn't overcome the feeling that this was a disposable Q4 release for atlus rather than something they cared about. i mean, sure, that's obvious to see, but i was at least a little hopeful that atlus' autopilot was a little better than this. i'm truly baffled that this game's release has been as positive as it is. disregard that one clickbait kotaku article about this game being lgbt positive or whatever; look at the average rating + the general consensus in the reviews here. it legitimately feels like everyone played a different game than the one i am talking about. most likely it's a self-selection bias situation where the people who would've disliked this game more than the current group already removed themselves from the sample. even with that in consideration, it's dire that this hasn't come under greater scrutiny. persona 5 fans really think this is a good spinoff?
i guess that's part of the problem when you're part of the problem: no one's going to join your bandwagon against self-flagellation when you bear the scars on your back.
i think what really sucks my enthusiasm out of this game is how low-effort everything feels. my cynical pet theory is that this was a game that was originally going to be a mobile release in the vein of something like nier reincarnation, but atlus thought they could get away with releasing this at full price on current gen hardware. joke's on me, i did buy the game. still, i don't feel as though enough people have been critical of how little this game demands of its hardware. graphics are stylized to a degree that this could run on 3DS hardware with little issue, the mechanics lack complexity or depth such that every character functionally plays the same with a modest tweak here and there, and there's actually very little strategy required for a tactics game. the very few missions that actually require planning and thought are the side-quests that will ask you to clear the level in one turn by cleverly using its mechanics to their full extent. this is stuff that we should've been seeing in the maingame by the halfway point, not as optional side content. instead, basically every challenge the main missions throw at you can be easily brute-forced. this plays less like a game based around tactics and more one around trial-and-error. the addition of an "undo the previous turn if you make any egregious mistakes" function in the menu certainly doesn't help that accusation.
indeed, this game introduces nearly all of its mechanics pretty early and then never develops them or asks the player to utilize them in uncanny or unexpected ways. there are no surprises in tactica's gameplay, and very little competency is asked of the player. i don't even consider myself a particularly smart/great video game player, but i played on hard mode and only saw the game over screen once (and that was by accident due to misunderstanding an endgame sidequest's objective). nothing about tactica feels challenging and, by extension, interesting. there are a few novel gameplay features here, such as how all-out attacks are handled, but they're given very little cost and are almost trivial to execute. combine that with a persona system that is so simplified it makes raidou blush, and there's ultimately very little going on under the hood which, again, reinforces my belief that this could've run comfortably on my phone. i'm not asking for a new final fantasy tactics, but it is interesting how that game managed to have so much more intrigue in both narrative and gameplay despite also being a spinoff of a popular turn-based JRPG series 20 years ago. the tactics genre hasn't stagnated this much, i think atlus just really assumed the persona 5 fanbase lacks standards for this sort of thing. and, loathe as i am to say it, there is a convincing argument to be made in atlus' favor.
i sound exceptionally negative on this game and it's more because even though the majority of my playthrough was brainless skinner box dopamine collecting, i resent what this game represents more than i find any major flaw with it. not every game has to shoot for the stars, and a lack of ambition hasn't stopped me from enjoying other games. again, it's just the cynicism behind all of this. the story isn't particularly interesting and feels fairly predictable. the P5 cast has been sanded down now and have lost the 3-dimensionality that they had in their original game so now you have futaba saying "sus" and makoto's main thing is how she can be scary sometimes. everyone's going through the motions. i will obviously never know the full story of production here, but i feel such a lack of passion for this game from its own dev team. again, i went into this with dim prospects, and i still managed to walk away underwhelmed. in that sense, maybe 2.5/5.0 is too high.
among other things, i just don't feel like this is a game particularly worth your time. i did roughly 2 playthroughs (big ups to locking like 9 personas to NG+ so i had to do a NG+ playthrough just to get the platinum), and i couldn't overcome the feeling that this was a disposable Q4 release for atlus rather than something they cared about. i mean, sure, that's obvious to see, but i was at least a little hopeful that atlus' autopilot was a little better than this. i'm truly baffled that this game's release has been as positive as it is. disregard that one clickbait kotaku article about this game being lgbt positive or whatever; look at the average rating + the general consensus in the reviews here. it legitimately feels like everyone played a different game than the one i am talking about. most likely it's a self-selection bias situation where the people who would've disliked this game more than the current group already removed themselves from the sample. even with that in consideration, it's dire that this hasn't come under greater scrutiny. persona 5 fans really think this is a good spinoff?
i guess that's part of the problem when you're part of the problem: no one's going to join your bandwagon against self-flagellation when you bear the scars on your back.
With the game having so much going against it, from an admittedly strange art style change to much different gameplay, as well as P3Reload coming so soon. Despite this, the game is still great and the style grew on me hugely. The gameplay is great, albeit maybe slightly too easy (a recurring issue with persona 5, apparently) as well as the story dropping off towards the end, but for the vast majority of the game keeps up the momentum with two great new characters, Toshiro especially is fantastic.
Definitely worth playing, don't sleep on it.
Definitely worth playing, don't sleep on it.
Persona 5: The Enemy is Spawning Reinforcements
The doctor is in, and he prescribed just what we needed: Another Persona 5 Spinoff! And the results are... it's kinda good?
Atlus and the Persona team have been on a meteoric uptick since the dawn of the millennia with the rise of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei around the world. With each installment seems to come more and more in the way of commercial and critical success. Persona in particular has made massive improvements from game to game, demonstrating the labor of love that the team puts into development and the reasons why it takes so many years to push a title out. Though my experience with Atlus is limited to a handful of SMT titles and a mishmash of mainline and spinoff Persona titles since Persona 3 Portable, I feel like its safe to say I've experienced the "best" that they've had to offer. This preamble is included in a review of their latest endeavor in Persona 5 Tactica to set the scene for why this game exists: because Persona 5 prints money. The sexy jazz chic that accompanies the user-interface, music, character design, and plot of Persona 5 acts to consumerism like water to a thirsty plant. Everything about the style of Persona 5 screams for the masses to purchase and enjoy, it's an attractive sheen to a video game that I haven't seen to this caliber before.
Much like the last two mainline titles, Persona 5 got a sort of re-release with additional content, known as Persona 5 Royal. Atlus' Persona team knew they could go further, with now eight-plus million copies sold between Royal and its original form, and embarked on a journey to Spaceballs-esque Yogurt-merchandise the series. On top of this it also got a rhythm game, a mobile game, a musuo title (which was effectively a sequel and also really damn good,) and now a Tactics game. Did people collectively groan when this was announced and not a sixth mainline title? Yes! Did people (like yours truly) also reluctantly excite themselves when they realized they got to spend more time with Joker and the gang? Also yes.
So Persona 5 Tactica, what's it about? Well Joker and the crew have found themselves in another metaverse of sorts, after a trip to their favorite hideout Leblanc takes them to Leblanc... in another world. Their journey quickly introduces them to new characters and a fresh dilemma attached: Erina, a new party member, and Toshiro, a member of the Japanese Government who conveniently has amnesia that totally will not set the stage for the entire story (wink wink.) Your party jumps on a quest soon enough to right this world from its wrongs and as one might guess, discovers that the perilous journey they are on stretches far and beyond their original intentions. Who are the villains of this world, and why do they hate Toshiro so much? Why does his intuition and story have so much gravity on the story? Is there a deeper evil at heart? You'll find these out in a near twenty hour campaign, which I found to be the perfect length for this kind of game.
Gameplay in Persona 5 Tactica is respectfully fairly simple for a Tactics game and... I'm VERY thankful for it. Tactics games in general seem to cater toward the hardcore thinky kinds of gamers who like to strategize and weigh numbers against other numbers and set the stage for long intensively thought out battles. It makes sense, you're basically wargaming and there's a lot of fun probably to be had in the set up and engagement of intricately devised stratagems. While I'm a fan of this in theory, I discovered pretty quickly after playing Tactics Ogre sometime in the recent past that there was a limit for me in how serious I liked pre-planning and number crunching my battles.
Persona 5 Tactica takes a page out of the Fire Emblem and recent Triangle Strategy books by crafting an experience that is gratifying when done correctly but mostly pretty simple. Each character has their three basic avenues of attack: their gun, their physical attack, and the Persona that they carry with them as they did in the main game. The unique part in Tactica is that these Persona's can be equipped with other Personas that you find and fuse on the field. No longer is Joker the only one who can use multiple types of moves, but your entire party. I liked this because you could augment certain characters to be more malleable to your playstyle. Anne could be your defacto support character if you wanted, she could also be your magical heavy hitter with several styles of attack beyond her normal fire.
Combat takes place on small to medium scale levels that are fairly light in terms of environmental design. They play to the themes of the dungeon and narrative at large but ultimately don't get very creative, which honestly I found to be pretty excusable. Win conditions for said engagements mostly boil down to defeating all of the enemies on the map, destroying a capture point or boss, or getting your party to the opposite side of the map to "escape." While this can sound monotonous and at points could be where the game seems to be padding for content, I didn't find it to be too egregious in the long run. There are only four or five enemy types outside of bosses that bring their own skills to the fray: normal grunt types, brutes that counter jump any time they are attacked, umbrella wielding phantoms that block encounters from a certain direction, support types, and lastly enemies who switch locations when they are initially attacked. Again while the variety here isn't anything of note, the game was short enough that I felt the enemy variety wasn't a grand issue.
To defeat enemies you have to take advantage of Tactica's surface level combat system. Any enemies or allies who are positioned along cover will take greatly reduced damage, thus is it is smart every turn to position yourself as necessary. To remove these people from cover, you must either knock them away with a physical attack or use an elemental move. Once done, any enemy standing freely is subject to a critical hit that allows you to move one more time. You are actively encouraged to chain these as much as possible (some side quests will force you to take out an entire level in one turn for example,) so that you can take advantage of the triple-threat mechanic (this games version of the all-out-attack) and further your location on the map towards the end-goal. Unlike other contemporary tactics games that rely on you exposing enemy-type weaknesses (Fire Emblem) or managing a living battleground (Advance Wars,) Persona 5 Tactica's combat effectively boils down to chaining moves through your whole party to end battles as quickly as possible. Each map has a reward that gives you a fiscal incentive if you are able to beat them in a pre-determined amount of turns as a bolster to this ideology. Very little pre-planning is required, simply just updating your weapons with every story arc to make sure they're powerful enough and also checking your Persona levels with Personas you've picked up from side content or the main story is all that is really needed.
So after the long tirade about what the meat and potatoes of Tactica are, what are the constants that keep it distinctly Persona? Much like the last major spinoff in Persona 5 Strikers, this game is not composed by long-running series legend Shoji Meguro. While that comes off as a red flag initially, I was very happy to discover that the soundtrack, while maybe not Shoji levels, was pretty dang good all around. The distorted guitar heavy soundscape matches the sinister vibes of the enemies and plight at hand. The between bits and moments at Cafe Leblanc and in repose feature the lower energy jazz that we're all fans of as well. Best part though is that the hero of Persona 5's most epic moments, Lyn, reprises her role as the most electrifying voice in gaming at the moment and provides even more incredible songs to add to the Persona 5 catalogue.
Outside of the music, the returning cast acting just like they did in the mainline titles and Strikers felt like coming home again. Dialogue was chirpy and quirky as it should be, and the same voice actors coming back to lend their talents gives this title extra kick. It was nice to hang out with everybody's favorite idiot in Ryuji who was constantly making himself out to be the fool once more, and also to experience the jests about Morgana being a cat. Every release that has me coming back to the cast of Persona 5 gets me to smile in the same way, and I love it.
Now with the above you may think I'd rate this game a little higher than I did, but unfortunately there was a little bit of a burnout in this off-kilter return to Persona 5. The main gripe I have was the way the title ended and that comes in two forms: the enemy encounters and the tires falling off of the plot. As per usual I wont divulge too much detail about the story but I felt like the game kind of ran out of ways to wrap itself up and made the entire last kingdom/chapter a necessity that it really wasn't. You're thrown into loads of levels that have the party fighting familiar bosses and foes with the difficulty tuned a little higher than what you'd already encountered. Going through the same bossfights and mechanics for each chapter that I already had however many hours ago felt like I was retreading content for the sake of runtime, and that never feels good. Bosses had too much health and the mechanics asked of the player to defeat them were greatly uninteresting. Outside of the way that Tactica ends, it also rubbed off on me in the way it always had a surprise up its sleeves. I really really really hate the "gotcha!" moments in games, and Tactica's vice was to consistently spawn enemies on top of the ones already on the field. The novelty can be engaging or interesting when used in moderation, but it felt like every single level past the midpoint of the game had Futaba screaming something along the lines of "BE CAREFUL, THE ENEMY IS SPAWNING REINFORCEMENTS" so much to the extent that I would wane my movements towards the remaining visible enemies on the map because I knew that a new wave was on hand every single time. This doesn't make the game harder or more interesting to tackle, it only brings a new element of tedium along.
The story was alright, not special. The actual levels were alright, not special. The enemies were okay, not special. The villains were decent, not special. The ending sequence was unfortunately frustrating and a little sloppy. It's with this that I give this game the rating I do. I'm glad we got it, and I had a lot of fun playing it, I just wish I spent the last quarter of the title doing something more engaging and interesting. While I was okay with the game not heading in a grandiose direction like Royal and Strikers, I think it could have done more with its small-scale story writing. My expected ceiling of this game wasn't too high, and it was almost there. I feel like with a few different calls in terms of game direction and narrative sequencing, I'd be higher on Tactica than I was.
I can't recommend Persona 5 Tactica to tactics genre loyalists, but I can and would recommend it to fans of Persona 5 and Persona 5 accessories.
The doctor is in, and he prescribed just what we needed: Another Persona 5 Spinoff! And the results are... it's kinda good?
Atlus and the Persona team have been on a meteoric uptick since the dawn of the millennia with the rise of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei around the world. With each installment seems to come more and more in the way of commercial and critical success. Persona in particular has made massive improvements from game to game, demonstrating the labor of love that the team puts into development and the reasons why it takes so many years to push a title out. Though my experience with Atlus is limited to a handful of SMT titles and a mishmash of mainline and spinoff Persona titles since Persona 3 Portable, I feel like its safe to say I've experienced the "best" that they've had to offer. This preamble is included in a review of their latest endeavor in Persona 5 Tactica to set the scene for why this game exists: because Persona 5 prints money. The sexy jazz chic that accompanies the user-interface, music, character design, and plot of Persona 5 acts to consumerism like water to a thirsty plant. Everything about the style of Persona 5 screams for the masses to purchase and enjoy, it's an attractive sheen to a video game that I haven't seen to this caliber before.
Much like the last two mainline titles, Persona 5 got a sort of re-release with additional content, known as Persona 5 Royal. Atlus' Persona team knew they could go further, with now eight-plus million copies sold between Royal and its original form, and embarked on a journey to Spaceballs-esque Yogurt-merchandise the series. On top of this it also got a rhythm game, a mobile game, a musuo title (which was effectively a sequel and also really damn good,) and now a Tactics game. Did people collectively groan when this was announced and not a sixth mainline title? Yes! Did people (like yours truly) also reluctantly excite themselves when they realized they got to spend more time with Joker and the gang? Also yes.
So Persona 5 Tactica, what's it about? Well Joker and the crew have found themselves in another metaverse of sorts, after a trip to their favorite hideout Leblanc takes them to Leblanc... in another world. Their journey quickly introduces them to new characters and a fresh dilemma attached: Erina, a new party member, and Toshiro, a member of the Japanese Government who conveniently has amnesia that totally will not set the stage for the entire story (wink wink.) Your party jumps on a quest soon enough to right this world from its wrongs and as one might guess, discovers that the perilous journey they are on stretches far and beyond their original intentions. Who are the villains of this world, and why do they hate Toshiro so much? Why does his intuition and story have so much gravity on the story? Is there a deeper evil at heart? You'll find these out in a near twenty hour campaign, which I found to be the perfect length for this kind of game.
Gameplay in Persona 5 Tactica is respectfully fairly simple for a Tactics game and... I'm VERY thankful for it. Tactics games in general seem to cater toward the hardcore thinky kinds of gamers who like to strategize and weigh numbers against other numbers and set the stage for long intensively thought out battles. It makes sense, you're basically wargaming and there's a lot of fun probably to be had in the set up and engagement of intricately devised stratagems. While I'm a fan of this in theory, I discovered pretty quickly after playing Tactics Ogre sometime in the recent past that there was a limit for me in how serious I liked pre-planning and number crunching my battles.
Persona 5 Tactica takes a page out of the Fire Emblem and recent Triangle Strategy books by crafting an experience that is gratifying when done correctly but mostly pretty simple. Each character has their three basic avenues of attack: their gun, their physical attack, and the Persona that they carry with them as they did in the main game. The unique part in Tactica is that these Persona's can be equipped with other Personas that you find and fuse on the field. No longer is Joker the only one who can use multiple types of moves, but your entire party. I liked this because you could augment certain characters to be more malleable to your playstyle. Anne could be your defacto support character if you wanted, she could also be your magical heavy hitter with several styles of attack beyond her normal fire.
Combat takes place on small to medium scale levels that are fairly light in terms of environmental design. They play to the themes of the dungeon and narrative at large but ultimately don't get very creative, which honestly I found to be pretty excusable. Win conditions for said engagements mostly boil down to defeating all of the enemies on the map, destroying a capture point or boss, or getting your party to the opposite side of the map to "escape." While this can sound monotonous and at points could be where the game seems to be padding for content, I didn't find it to be too egregious in the long run. There are only four or five enemy types outside of bosses that bring their own skills to the fray: normal grunt types, brutes that counter jump any time they are attacked, umbrella wielding phantoms that block encounters from a certain direction, support types, and lastly enemies who switch locations when they are initially attacked. Again while the variety here isn't anything of note, the game was short enough that I felt the enemy variety wasn't a grand issue.
To defeat enemies you have to take advantage of Tactica's surface level combat system. Any enemies or allies who are positioned along cover will take greatly reduced damage, thus is it is smart every turn to position yourself as necessary. To remove these people from cover, you must either knock them away with a physical attack or use an elemental move. Once done, any enemy standing freely is subject to a critical hit that allows you to move one more time. You are actively encouraged to chain these as much as possible (some side quests will force you to take out an entire level in one turn for example,) so that you can take advantage of the triple-threat mechanic (this games version of the all-out-attack) and further your location on the map towards the end-goal. Unlike other contemporary tactics games that rely on you exposing enemy-type weaknesses (Fire Emblem) or managing a living battleground (Advance Wars,) Persona 5 Tactica's combat effectively boils down to chaining moves through your whole party to end battles as quickly as possible. Each map has a reward that gives you a fiscal incentive if you are able to beat them in a pre-determined amount of turns as a bolster to this ideology. Very little pre-planning is required, simply just updating your weapons with every story arc to make sure they're powerful enough and also checking your Persona levels with Personas you've picked up from side content or the main story is all that is really needed.
So after the long tirade about what the meat and potatoes of Tactica are, what are the constants that keep it distinctly Persona? Much like the last major spinoff in Persona 5 Strikers, this game is not composed by long-running series legend Shoji Meguro. While that comes off as a red flag initially, I was very happy to discover that the soundtrack, while maybe not Shoji levels, was pretty dang good all around. The distorted guitar heavy soundscape matches the sinister vibes of the enemies and plight at hand. The between bits and moments at Cafe Leblanc and in repose feature the lower energy jazz that we're all fans of as well. Best part though is that the hero of Persona 5's most epic moments, Lyn, reprises her role as the most electrifying voice in gaming at the moment and provides even more incredible songs to add to the Persona 5 catalogue.
Outside of the music, the returning cast acting just like they did in the mainline titles and Strikers felt like coming home again. Dialogue was chirpy and quirky as it should be, and the same voice actors coming back to lend their talents gives this title extra kick. It was nice to hang out with everybody's favorite idiot in Ryuji who was constantly making himself out to be the fool once more, and also to experience the jests about Morgana being a cat. Every release that has me coming back to the cast of Persona 5 gets me to smile in the same way, and I love it.
Now with the above you may think I'd rate this game a little higher than I did, but unfortunately there was a little bit of a burnout in this off-kilter return to Persona 5. The main gripe I have was the way the title ended and that comes in two forms: the enemy encounters and the tires falling off of the plot. As per usual I wont divulge too much detail about the story but I felt like the game kind of ran out of ways to wrap itself up and made the entire last kingdom/chapter a necessity that it really wasn't. You're thrown into loads of levels that have the party fighting familiar bosses and foes with the difficulty tuned a little higher than what you'd already encountered. Going through the same bossfights and mechanics for each chapter that I already had however many hours ago felt like I was retreading content for the sake of runtime, and that never feels good. Bosses had too much health and the mechanics asked of the player to defeat them were greatly uninteresting. Outside of the way that Tactica ends, it also rubbed off on me in the way it always had a surprise up its sleeves. I really really really hate the "gotcha!" moments in games, and Tactica's vice was to consistently spawn enemies on top of the ones already on the field. The novelty can be engaging or interesting when used in moderation, but it felt like every single level past the midpoint of the game had Futaba screaming something along the lines of "BE CAREFUL, THE ENEMY IS SPAWNING REINFORCEMENTS" so much to the extent that I would wane my movements towards the remaining visible enemies on the map because I knew that a new wave was on hand every single time. This doesn't make the game harder or more interesting to tackle, it only brings a new element of tedium along.
The story was alright, not special. The actual levels were alright, not special. The enemies were okay, not special. The villains were decent, not special. The ending sequence was unfortunately frustrating and a little sloppy. It's with this that I give this game the rating I do. I'm glad we got it, and I had a lot of fun playing it, I just wish I spent the last quarter of the title doing something more engaging and interesting. While I was okay with the game not heading in a grandiose direction like Royal and Strikers, I think it could have done more with its small-scale story writing. My expected ceiling of this game wasn't too high, and it was almost there. I feel like with a few different calls in terms of game direction and narrative sequencing, I'd be higher on Tactica than I was.
I can't recommend Persona 5 Tactica to tactics genre loyalists, but I can and would recommend it to fans of Persona 5 and Persona 5 accessories.
I was fairly uninterested in the game (and the story) until the tail end of the first Kingdom, then it becomes much more interesting with a few added mechanics, enemy types, and the narrative finally moving along.
I liked the art direction they went with. Fairly barebones skill trees for the characters, and Personas were mainly passives unless you wanted a big AoE skill. Despite this they did a good job making the characters play differently, so swapping around can keep things interesting.
The final act of the game was pretty...whatever. They throw in a very shoehorned boss rush, but then the actual final boss was pretty good. Overall, the game was fun but I would only recommend through Game Pass or a sale, $60 feels a little steep.
I liked the art direction they went with. Fairly barebones skill trees for the characters, and Personas were mainly passives unless you wanted a big AoE skill. Despite this they did a good job making the characters play differently, so swapping around can keep things interesting.
The final act of the game was pretty...whatever. They throw in a very shoehorned boss rush, but then the actual final boss was pretty good. Overall, the game was fun but I would only recommend through Game Pass or a sale, $60 feels a little steep.
Persona 5 Tactica is a solid game that I enjoyed playing a lot. I will admit that a major reason for this is the already great characters from Persona 5. The new characters, Toshiro and Erina, are pretty good too, with their backstories being one of the highlights of the game's narrative. The gameplay is fun too, with some of what you'd get from an XCOM game with some Persona sprinkled in. I didn't find myself getting too bored of the gameplay for the most part. My one big complaint for the game is the last 4th of it. The game had basically wrapped up, but they decided to add another boss that really had no reason to be there. It felt like they wanted to up the stakes to the level of the original game, but that didn't work for me. One more highlight is the music. It wouldn't be a Persona game without a banger soundtrack, and P5T is no exception. One thing that I didn't mind as much as I though I would is the chibi art style of the game. I ended up finding a lot of it very charming. I do wish, however, that they had leaned more into using the 3D models of the characters rather than making much of it told in the form of a visual novel. Overall, I enjoyed P5T, though it could have wrapped up a little sooner than it did. I still had a good time and I'm glad that I played it.
I was super excited when the game got announced as this year I really got into tactics games. And the game was exactly what I expected just a spin off of the main game but that doesn't mean it disappointed. I really liked the combat it was fun to try and make as much combo's as possible. The story was a mix of goofy and serious which I welcomed. The new characters were well written and fit into the Phantom Thieves group pretty well. One of my main complaints is the audio mixing as sometimes the music is louder than voice lines. And the levels could be maybe a tiny bit more creative. But the ending left me in tears just like P5 Royal did :"D
This is a fairly fun journey with some bumps in the road.
The pacing throughout felt pretty off. This is a fairly short game overall, but it somehow felt both too extended at times and too rushed in others. The first kingdom being much longer than others, the final one being more of a gauntlet, the first couple being really a slow intro compared to the rapid plot development after, etc.
The T in P5T really does stand for Toshiro. I liked the main story and its two central characters quite a bit, and it makes me wish they did something a little riskier and made this a more separate Persona side game focusing on just them + maybe one other character (could be a P5 cast member as a bridge, could be something original). I liked the generally more restrained plot focus though; it fit the size of the game. The Phantom Thieves are really pretty irrelevant to the plot aside from the main theme of rebellion. They mostly feel like they're there for brand recognition, some fun banter between them, saying "damn that's crazy" during plot moments, and occasionally "this reminds me of my character arc from the hit game Persona 5". Even during the big plot dump sections where pretty much all questions are answered, and you even get to ask some more yourself, there was never even an excuse given for why they got wrapped up in this.
The elephant in the room to me is the artstyle. Regardless of whether you personally like the aesthetics or not, I really feel like it just doesn't serve the game any favors or enhance it in any way. It doesn't match the tone of the story being told (aside from a lot of Yusuke's dialog being food jokes for whatever reason) and makes it more difficult to connect with the serious beats and character moments. Personally, I don't mind chibi looks at all, but I much prefer PQ's style to this (especially when any limbs are bent, eugh), and it never felt like I fully adjusted to the artstyle here and it kept me just a little out of the game all the time. As an extension of this, the citizens of the kingdoms were just impossible to take seriously. They're in situations that have them attempting to discuss topics like oppression, but when they sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks and look like hats with eyes, it just doesn't work.
On a more positive note, while I'm not much of an SRPG guy, I think the combat was pretty creative overall. There were tons of mechanics constantly being introduced, but it never felt too overwhelming. I didn't always have the cleanest solutions to every map, but when I did, it really did feel cool to put it all together. There was plenty going on to keep me engaged and interested throughout. I also like the return to the P1/2/honestly mostly PQish style of personas being assignable to the full party. I'm a big fusion fan, and while this was simplified overall, that felt fitting for the size of the game and I still had a couple cool powerhouses I fused along the way. It wasn't quite enough for me to want to do giant fusion sessions like I'd do in P5R or SMT V though, and I will say that the personas just being screenshots in a menu instead of visually represented in battle was kind of lame.
Overall, I enjoyed most of my time with P5T. There's definitely a lot of room for improvement here, and it never hit the highs of its cooler older brother, P5S (and neither did its music), but it was a fun experience with some neat twists throughout.
Also what was up with the audio mixing on voices
The pacing throughout felt pretty off. This is a fairly short game overall, but it somehow felt both too extended at times and too rushed in others. The first kingdom being much longer than others, the final one being more of a gauntlet, the first couple being really a slow intro compared to the rapid plot development after, etc.
The T in P5T really does stand for Toshiro. I liked the main story and its two central characters quite a bit, and it makes me wish they did something a little riskier and made this a more separate Persona side game focusing on just them + maybe one other character (could be a P5 cast member as a bridge, could be something original). I liked the generally more restrained plot focus though; it fit the size of the game. The Phantom Thieves are really pretty irrelevant to the plot aside from the main theme of rebellion. They mostly feel like they're there for brand recognition, some fun banter between them, saying "damn that's crazy" during plot moments, and occasionally "this reminds me of my character arc from the hit game Persona 5". Even during the big plot dump sections where pretty much all questions are answered, and you even get to ask some more yourself, there was never even an excuse given for why they got wrapped up in this.
The elephant in the room to me is the artstyle. Regardless of whether you personally like the aesthetics or not, I really feel like it just doesn't serve the game any favors or enhance it in any way. It doesn't match the tone of the story being told (aside from a lot of Yusuke's dialog being food jokes for whatever reason) and makes it more difficult to connect with the serious beats and character moments. Personally, I don't mind chibi looks at all, but I much prefer PQ's style to this (especially when any limbs are bent, eugh), and it never felt like I fully adjusted to the artstyle here and it kept me just a little out of the game all the time. As an extension of this, the citizens of the kingdoms were just impossible to take seriously. They're in situations that have them attempting to discuss topics like oppression, but when they sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks and look like hats with eyes, it just doesn't work.
On a more positive note, while I'm not much of an SRPG guy, I think the combat was pretty creative overall. There were tons of mechanics constantly being introduced, but it never felt too overwhelming. I didn't always have the cleanest solutions to every map, but when I did, it really did feel cool to put it all together. There was plenty going on to keep me engaged and interested throughout. I also like the return to the P1/2/honestly mostly PQish style of personas being assignable to the full party. I'm a big fusion fan, and while this was simplified overall, that felt fitting for the size of the game and I still had a couple cool powerhouses I fused along the way. It wasn't quite enough for me to want to do giant fusion sessions like I'd do in P5R or SMT V though, and I will say that the personas just being screenshots in a menu instead of visually represented in battle was kind of lame.
Overall, I enjoyed most of my time with P5T. There's definitely a lot of room for improvement here, and it never hit the highs of its cooler older brother, P5S (and neither did its music), but it was a fun experience with some neat twists throughout.
Also what was up with the audio mixing on voices
Following its initial announcement, this game was met with an outstanding and overbearing silence that echoed throughout the lands of the fanbase as absolutely no one alive was hyped for the prestigious release of Persona 5 Tactica.
Well- I lie. I WAS EXCITED! I was so hyped, I went to every DM for every friend who even remotely knew of Persona, telling them that "Persona 5 Fire Emblem finally exists!" I was wrong, but I wasn't right either. It was more "Persona 5 Mario + Rabbids," than anything, but it was a Persona 5 tactics game, and for that: I couldn't be happier.
Persona 5 Tactica is an odd strategy game. Rather than meticulously honing in on enemies and playing it safe throughout each battle, Tactica expects you to play aggressively, utilising skill advantages and 1 More's to decimate opponents, leaving them open so you can wipe the battlefield before a conflict can even begin. For this, the game can be admittedly exhilarating to play. You're always on the move, and when you get the hang of it, it becomes an absolute joy to play! Characters bounce off each other well, and each Side Quest teaches you what each character's toolkit offers, as well as how they might differ. Sooner or later, you begin realising which character works well for what scenario, and you lose yourself in the all-out revolution of war that this game tries its best to tell a tale of.
That was how it was for me, anyway. Being weak in this game is a major strength in battle. What you lack in OH-KOing enemies when being under-levelled, you make up for in being able to push them around the map, allowing you to crowd control a large group before sending them home with an All-Out Attack. It's incredibly satisfying to pull off, and even though I was worried about making certain missions impossible when I was over the level for certain ones: The game still provided me enough versatility to think around the box and use a different character's skills in new ways.
Mind you, everyone is diverse, but not everyone is fair - and I saw this is an issue in what was thankfully the best possible way. The one outlier in the main cast, being Yusuke, is thankfully just a REALLY good unit to have in every battle. With the right skills, he provides extra movement for every battle, and he quickly became a favourite for getting slow-coaches like Haru and Makoto across the map quickly without needing to waste turns positioning them. Speed is the main aim of the game, and regardless of the overall difficulty setting you're playing in, you're ultimately rushing to success with everyone on-board.
You must forgive me, though. Tactica is admittedly one of the few times in a Persona game where I was so incredibly enamoured by the gameplay, that I absolutely lost myself in it without first realising just how good the story could be. Is the story good? If you've played Persona 5's original campaign and the Strikers spin-off, you'll see the ending twist coming from beyond a mile away - and then you'll sigh in dissapointment as the game tries its best during the final few hours to get you on-board for the finale when you're absolutely ready to bash his head in like the ones before him in other games.
The story isn't amazing, but it's not horrible either. What makes it, "not horrible," though? Define it for me, Yoshistar!
Okay, fine. I will: Toshiro and Erina! These two bubbles of fear and absolute delight had me giggle a few times with how silly they could be! Tactica is implied to take place during winter of P5 Royal. The Phantoms Thieves don't develope. They've done doing that. You SAW THEM do that. No complaints here, okay? From here on, Toshiro takes the stage, and Erina joins alongside him!
The two rub off each other like skin and soap, ribbing on one another constantly while also providing aid in their faults. It's incredibly heart-warming to see, and during the final moments of seeing Toshiro coming to grips with who he is, you begin loving these characters for being the way they are. Toshiro for being a goof who has to accept his faults, and Erina for being the #badassgirlboss that doesn't take "no" for an answer. She represents the game's themes of Revolution perfectly, and to that end, the story of the game can be immensely engaging. It's a character-driven narrative, and the characters this time around are the goofballs, Toshiro, Toshiro, and Toshiro, with a side helping of Erina whenever the plot demands it. It's not perfect - but it's engaging, and I loved the game for it!
There are little things too, that I enjoyed about this game. I didn't mind the constant menu navigation because, as always, Persona 5's UI and themes of Revolution hit the nail on the head whenever you even THOUGHT of checking something out before a battle. You could get lost for HOURS fusing Personas in the Velvet Room if you're lucky (I was sadly, unlucky, though: When I had to sit in their for 40+ minutes for a PS achievements :/), and seeing bonus conversations only to THEN mix and match skills in the Skill Tree becomes dangerously addicting before every battle. Now... if only the game didn't notify me EVERY TIME even ONE of the units needed a tiny upgrade for SOMETHING RELATIVELY MINOR- D:
"Yes, I know Haru can get a small HP upgrade for 10 GP, game, but MAYBE I DON'T WANT IT! LET ME SAVE UP MORE DAMN IT- THE FLOOF NEEDS HER OVER-POWERED PSIO SKILL DAMN IT!!!!!"
AHEM-
Sorry about that.
So that's it? That's my only complaint?
Yeah.
I told you all before. I was one of the only few who was excited for Tactica's announcement. I was so excited, I waited for a sale and snagged it when the tide of prices was looking safe to surf on many months later. Call it cheap (it was on my wallet), but it worked. The game receiving such a lukewarm reception has likely damaged any resemblance of more Tactica-like games from ATLUS, which is a shame - but it does make me hopeful we could get Persona Q remasters one day. And even if I WAS the one singing this game's praises enough to Platinum the game on my PS account, I had an absolute joy doing it.
People are getting sick of the Phantom Thieves. They've hit a slump, and they're just not as good as they used to be. ATLUS love them just as much as we've apparently outgrown them, and that's the harsh reality of the world we live in. To that I say: Enjoy it while it lasts. I'm hoping one day people avert their eyes from the fatigue, and give Tactica the 1 More it deserves. It's not a masterpiece of a game, but it's not harmful either. Persona 5 Tactica is a game that excels in what it does, and is a joy to play from start-to-end to New Game+ and beyond. It's not perfect, but it's not a Persona game without polish - and you'll see that more if you ever ever decide to give it the glance it deserves.
Well- I lie. I WAS EXCITED! I was so hyped, I went to every DM for every friend who even remotely knew of Persona, telling them that "Persona 5 Fire Emblem finally exists!" I was wrong, but I wasn't right either. It was more "Persona 5 Mario + Rabbids," than anything, but it was a Persona 5 tactics game, and for that: I couldn't be happier.
Persona 5 Tactica is an odd strategy game. Rather than meticulously honing in on enemies and playing it safe throughout each battle, Tactica expects you to play aggressively, utilising skill advantages and 1 More's to decimate opponents, leaving them open so you can wipe the battlefield before a conflict can even begin. For this, the game can be admittedly exhilarating to play. You're always on the move, and when you get the hang of it, it becomes an absolute joy to play! Characters bounce off each other well, and each Side Quest teaches you what each character's toolkit offers, as well as how they might differ. Sooner or later, you begin realising which character works well for what scenario, and you lose yourself in the all-out revolution of war that this game tries its best to tell a tale of.
That was how it was for me, anyway. Being weak in this game is a major strength in battle. What you lack in OH-KOing enemies when being under-levelled, you make up for in being able to push them around the map, allowing you to crowd control a large group before sending them home with an All-Out Attack. It's incredibly satisfying to pull off, and even though I was worried about making certain missions impossible when I was over the level for certain ones: The game still provided me enough versatility to think around the box and use a different character's skills in new ways.
Mind you, everyone is diverse, but not everyone is fair - and I saw this is an issue in what was thankfully the best possible way. The one outlier in the main cast, being Yusuke, is thankfully just a REALLY good unit to have in every battle. With the right skills, he provides extra movement for every battle, and he quickly became a favourite for getting slow-coaches like Haru and Makoto across the map quickly without needing to waste turns positioning them. Speed is the main aim of the game, and regardless of the overall difficulty setting you're playing in, you're ultimately rushing to success with everyone on-board.
You must forgive me, though. Tactica is admittedly one of the few times in a Persona game where I was so incredibly enamoured by the gameplay, that I absolutely lost myself in it without first realising just how good the story could be. Is the story good? If you've played Persona 5's original campaign and the Strikers spin-off, you'll see the ending twist coming from beyond a mile away - and then you'll sigh in dissapointment as the game tries its best during the final few hours to get you on-board for the finale when you're absolutely ready to bash his head in like the ones before him in other games.
The story isn't amazing, but it's not horrible either. What makes it, "not horrible," though? Define it for me, Yoshistar!
Okay, fine. I will: Toshiro and Erina! These two bubbles of fear and absolute delight had me giggle a few times with how silly they could be! Tactica is implied to take place during winter of P5 Royal. The Phantoms Thieves don't develope. They've done doing that. You SAW THEM do that. No complaints here, okay? From here on, Toshiro takes the stage, and Erina joins alongside him!
The two rub off each other like skin and soap, ribbing on one another constantly while also providing aid in their faults. It's incredibly heart-warming to see, and during the final moments of seeing Toshiro coming to grips with who he is, you begin loving these characters for being the way they are. Toshiro for being a goof who has to accept his faults, and Erina for being the #badassgirlboss that doesn't take "no" for an answer. She represents the game's themes of Revolution perfectly, and to that end, the story of the game can be immensely engaging. It's a character-driven narrative, and the characters this time around are the goofballs, Toshiro, Toshiro, and Toshiro, with a side helping of Erina whenever the plot demands it. It's not perfect - but it's engaging, and I loved the game for it!
There are little things too, that I enjoyed about this game. I didn't mind the constant menu navigation because, as always, Persona 5's UI and themes of Revolution hit the nail on the head whenever you even THOUGHT of checking something out before a battle. You could get lost for HOURS fusing Personas in the Velvet Room if you're lucky (I was sadly, unlucky, though: When I had to sit in their for 40+ minutes for a PS achievements :/), and seeing bonus conversations only to THEN mix and match skills in the Skill Tree becomes dangerously addicting before every battle. Now... if only the game didn't notify me EVERY TIME even ONE of the units needed a tiny upgrade for SOMETHING RELATIVELY MINOR- D:
"Yes, I know Haru can get a small HP upgrade for 10 GP, game, but MAYBE I DON'T WANT IT! LET ME SAVE UP MORE DAMN IT- THE FLOOF NEEDS HER OVER-POWERED PSIO SKILL DAMN IT!!!!!"
AHEM-
Sorry about that.
So that's it? That's my only complaint?
Yeah.
I told you all before. I was one of the only few who was excited for Tactica's announcement. I was so excited, I waited for a sale and snagged it when the tide of prices was looking safe to surf on many months later. Call it cheap (it was on my wallet), but it worked. The game receiving such a lukewarm reception has likely damaged any resemblance of more Tactica-like games from ATLUS, which is a shame - but it does make me hopeful we could get Persona Q remasters one day. And even if I WAS the one singing this game's praises enough to Platinum the game on my PS account, I had an absolute joy doing it.
People are getting sick of the Phantom Thieves. They've hit a slump, and they're just not as good as they used to be. ATLUS love them just as much as we've apparently outgrown them, and that's the harsh reality of the world we live in. To that I say: Enjoy it while it lasts. I'm hoping one day people avert their eyes from the fatigue, and give Tactica the 1 More it deserves. It's not a masterpiece of a game, but it's not harmful either. Persona 5 Tactica is a game that excels in what it does, and is a joy to play from start-to-end to New Game+ and beyond. It's not perfect, but it's not a Persona game without polish - and you'll see that more if you ever ever decide to give it the glance it deserves.
Yet another Persona 5 spin off but while Phantom Thieves fatigue has been well and truly setting in, this spin off does offer a lot to love about it.
Atlus have decided to dip their toes into the tactics genre this time, blending their excellent RPG mechanics into a grid based tactics experience that is similar to Mario + Rabbids. By that, I mean that battles take place in grid based maps with a low camera angle where cover is your best friend. High cover will protect you from incoming fire from most directions while low cover will reduce the damage you take and this makes guns your main weapon of choice as you can shoot from behind cover to attack enemies at a distance. Being out in the open leaves you vulnerable to being knocked down like a critical hit would do in mainline Persona giving out the One More status to allow the enemy to move and attack again. By running up next to an enemy you can use a physical attack to push them out of cover and leave them in a vulnerable state for a teammate to knock down.
By knocking an enemy down you can activate an all out attack and do major damage by moving your characters into a triangle formation with the downed enemy in it. There's a lot of strategy to be found in trying to get as many enemies in the all out attack as possible, especially when characters that have already used their action can't move and you can't walk through any enemy or party member on the map.
Personas are your spell based attacks and these have been altered to carry an effect. Garu skills will blow an enemy away a few spaces, Zio skills inflict the shocked status, Psio skills pull an enemy towards you, etc. Basically most skills will assist in making an enemy vulnerable to being downed. Tactica also allows every character (except Erina who can't use a Persona) to have a sub Persona which grants additional skills to be used as well as providing more hp/sp or extra effects like increased melee damage. All your Persona fusion also returns with the Velvet Room and you gain new Personas just by defeating enemies and beating maps.
Maps are very well designed featuring different gimmicks throughout like opening doors or raising platforms via buttons, or being able to climb ladders to reach higher ground and being able to move all your characters as much as you want before using an action means there's a lot of puzzle like elements to maps as you try to find your way forward through them.
On top of that there's varied objectives too! Most maps are enemy rout objectives but there's also escape maps, survive maps and even an escort map and you also get bonus objectives to complete too. The bonus objectives tend to be the same 3 things every map (beat it in a certain amount of turns, don't let any party member die, and clearing the stage) and doing these increases the amount of money you earn for all your Persona summoning and weapon needs. Basically Atlus have managed to come up with an in depth and well thought out tactical game experience that compliments the traditional Persona game experience to build yet another excellent spin off in the gameplay department.
In the story department, this is yet another adventure with the Phantom Thieves taking place not long after the events of Persona 5/Royal (and if you haven't played either of those then be aware that the characters do make reference to events of those games throughout). For me personally, I was really hoping for a spin off story to dive into something like the Persona 4 Arena games did where the cast of 4 got to meet an older cast of 3 because at this point, the Phantom Thieves don't really have much to offer in terms of character growth, especially at the point of not long post their P5 adventure. And it seems like Atlus was aware of this because the story here is very much focused on new characters Toshiro and Erina with the Phantom Thieves acting more as a support role for these two newcomers. After being transported to a mysterious world that is very similar to the metaverse, the Phantom Thieves meet Erina who is trying to stage a rebellion against Marie who has made the Kingdom (basically a Palace) into a place to worship her and build her a perfect wedding venue. Erina is trying to free the citizens of this world from Marie's oppression and is overall a character who symbolises the fire of rebellion in one's heart which is very fitting for Persona 5 where the core theme of rebellion is what caused the original gang to awaken to their Personas in the first place.
Eventually the gang meet and free Toshiro from Marie's dungeon. Toshiro is a politician from the real world who had recently disappeared and went missing. He's a character who has very much lost the fire of rebellion in his heart as he's grown older, finding setback after setback that has scarred his heart and now his first instinct is to run from all conflict. Despite this, Toshiro is still great at rousing speeches and planning ahead so he ends up becoming more of a tactician for the group who tries to bring some level headedness to proceedings.
So the core of the story is basically trying to free each Kingdom from an oppressive ruler while also helping Toshiro rediscover the flame of rebellion in his heart with the Phantom Thieves being able to relate to some of the things he has experienced in life with their own situations from the original P5 game. It's a great group dynamic and Toshiro makes for an excellent character as a rare Persona experience of looking into an adult character whose life experience has caused him to lose his way. His dynamic with Erina in particular is very well done and I absolutely love where the game goes with those two. Seeing Toshiro’s growth throughout the game is very well done and it's clear to see a lot of work and care went into his character in particular.
With this being a Persona spin off, it does also have its more eye roll worthy moments of writing too. The game very much makes sure to hit you over the head with its theme of rebellion, losing a lot of nuance with it and we also have some character tropes exaggerated and repeated throughout the adventure. Yes, I get Morgana is NOT a cat, yes I get Yusuke is a starving artist, I don't need reminding of that multiple times throughout the story and with Makoto, I have no idea where her sudden “quick to violence” trope has come from because her whole awakening scene in Persona 5 is her literally bottling up all of her anger at being used and following the rules too strictly to the point she has her outburst that causes her awakening. Outside of that she's still very much a calm, collected, and reserved person so seeing her portrayal in this spin off at times was very much uh… what are they doing to my favourite character kind of thing.
But yeah, outside of those instances, P5T does manage to provide a thrilling and engaging tale of an adult trying to rediscover the fire in his heart and it's one I very much appreciate.
The game peaks at the third Kingdom before the final kingdom drags things down a little bit by reusing map gimmicks and boss fights from the initial three Kingdoms and the story runs out of steam a bit. It kinda feels like they just threw in some Persona tropes for the sake of it instead of wrapping the game up at an ideal point. We do get a fantastic ending however, that manages to hit some very strong emotional beats and I think it's the first time a Persona spin off has managed to make me cry so full props to that.
On the soundtrack front, Lyn once again knocks it out of the park with her vocal songs, from the powerful opening song, Revolution in Your Heart, to the very beautiful ending song, To My Dear, So Far Away. She provides some fantastic battle themes too while the non vocal themes lean more on the guitar front that provides some great riffs though can feel like they play in a more generic loop compared to most Persona soundtracks. Overall it's another fantastic soundtrack from the Atlus sound team.
On the performance front I played the Nintendo Switch version and it definitely feels like the game was built around that platform first, with its chibi Persona Q esque artstyle and boxy map design very much complimenting the weaker hardware. The game runs at a solid 30fps and looks great for a Switch title which is all you need really. Glancing at the other platforms it seems you get 60fps and a higher resolution instead so platform choice basically comes down to where you would prefer playing it.
So despite going into this one pretty tepidly and feeling burnt out on the Phantom Thieves and the whole Persona 5 aesthetic, I managed to come out of it thoroughly enjoying myself and falling in love with the new characters. The few setbacks the game has doesn't detract that overall this is a great tactics game with an engaging story to tell and one that explores a few unique things compared to most Persona titles.
Atlus have decided to dip their toes into the tactics genre this time, blending their excellent RPG mechanics into a grid based tactics experience that is similar to Mario + Rabbids. By that, I mean that battles take place in grid based maps with a low camera angle where cover is your best friend. High cover will protect you from incoming fire from most directions while low cover will reduce the damage you take and this makes guns your main weapon of choice as you can shoot from behind cover to attack enemies at a distance. Being out in the open leaves you vulnerable to being knocked down like a critical hit would do in mainline Persona giving out the One More status to allow the enemy to move and attack again. By running up next to an enemy you can use a physical attack to push them out of cover and leave them in a vulnerable state for a teammate to knock down.
By knocking an enemy down you can activate an all out attack and do major damage by moving your characters into a triangle formation with the downed enemy in it. There's a lot of strategy to be found in trying to get as many enemies in the all out attack as possible, especially when characters that have already used their action can't move and you can't walk through any enemy or party member on the map.
Personas are your spell based attacks and these have been altered to carry an effect. Garu skills will blow an enemy away a few spaces, Zio skills inflict the shocked status, Psio skills pull an enemy towards you, etc. Basically most skills will assist in making an enemy vulnerable to being downed. Tactica also allows every character (except Erina who can't use a Persona) to have a sub Persona which grants additional skills to be used as well as providing more hp/sp or extra effects like increased melee damage. All your Persona fusion also returns with the Velvet Room and you gain new Personas just by defeating enemies and beating maps.
Maps are very well designed featuring different gimmicks throughout like opening doors or raising platforms via buttons, or being able to climb ladders to reach higher ground and being able to move all your characters as much as you want before using an action means there's a lot of puzzle like elements to maps as you try to find your way forward through them.
On top of that there's varied objectives too! Most maps are enemy rout objectives but there's also escape maps, survive maps and even an escort map and you also get bonus objectives to complete too. The bonus objectives tend to be the same 3 things every map (beat it in a certain amount of turns, don't let any party member die, and clearing the stage) and doing these increases the amount of money you earn for all your Persona summoning and weapon needs. Basically Atlus have managed to come up with an in depth and well thought out tactical game experience that compliments the traditional Persona game experience to build yet another excellent spin off in the gameplay department.
In the story department, this is yet another adventure with the Phantom Thieves taking place not long after the events of Persona 5/Royal (and if you haven't played either of those then be aware that the characters do make reference to events of those games throughout). For me personally, I was really hoping for a spin off story to dive into something like the Persona 4 Arena games did where the cast of 4 got to meet an older cast of 3 because at this point, the Phantom Thieves don't really have much to offer in terms of character growth, especially at the point of not long post their P5 adventure. And it seems like Atlus was aware of this because the story here is very much focused on new characters Toshiro and Erina with the Phantom Thieves acting more as a support role for these two newcomers. After being transported to a mysterious world that is very similar to the metaverse, the Phantom Thieves meet Erina who is trying to stage a rebellion against Marie who has made the Kingdom (basically a Palace) into a place to worship her and build her a perfect wedding venue. Erina is trying to free the citizens of this world from Marie's oppression and is overall a character who symbolises the fire of rebellion in one's heart which is very fitting for Persona 5 where the core theme of rebellion is what caused the original gang to awaken to their Personas in the first place.
Eventually the gang meet and free Toshiro from Marie's dungeon. Toshiro is a politician from the real world who had recently disappeared and went missing. He's a character who has very much lost the fire of rebellion in his heart as he's grown older, finding setback after setback that has scarred his heart and now his first instinct is to run from all conflict. Despite this, Toshiro is still great at rousing speeches and planning ahead so he ends up becoming more of a tactician for the group who tries to bring some level headedness to proceedings.
So the core of the story is basically trying to free each Kingdom from an oppressive ruler while also helping Toshiro rediscover the flame of rebellion in his heart with the Phantom Thieves being able to relate to some of the things he has experienced in life with their own situations from the original P5 game. It's a great group dynamic and Toshiro makes for an excellent character as a rare Persona experience of looking into an adult character whose life experience has caused him to lose his way. His dynamic with Erina in particular is very well done and I absolutely love where the game goes with those two. Seeing Toshiro’s growth throughout the game is very well done and it's clear to see a lot of work and care went into his character in particular.
With this being a Persona spin off, it does also have its more eye roll worthy moments of writing too. The game very much makes sure to hit you over the head with its theme of rebellion, losing a lot of nuance with it and we also have some character tropes exaggerated and repeated throughout the adventure. Yes, I get Morgana is NOT a cat, yes I get Yusuke is a starving artist, I don't need reminding of that multiple times throughout the story and with Makoto, I have no idea where her sudden “quick to violence” trope has come from because her whole awakening scene in Persona 5 is her literally bottling up all of her anger at being used and following the rules too strictly to the point she has her outburst that causes her awakening. Outside of that she's still very much a calm, collected, and reserved person so seeing her portrayal in this spin off at times was very much uh… what are they doing to my favourite character kind of thing.
But yeah, outside of those instances, P5T does manage to provide a thrilling and engaging tale of an adult trying to rediscover the fire in his heart and it's one I very much appreciate.
The game peaks at the third Kingdom before the final kingdom drags things down a little bit by reusing map gimmicks and boss fights from the initial three Kingdoms and the story runs out of steam a bit. It kinda feels like they just threw in some Persona tropes for the sake of it instead of wrapping the game up at an ideal point. We do get a fantastic ending however, that manages to hit some very strong emotional beats and I think it's the first time a Persona spin off has managed to make me cry so full props to that.
On the soundtrack front, Lyn once again knocks it out of the park with her vocal songs, from the powerful opening song, Revolution in Your Heart, to the very beautiful ending song, To My Dear, So Far Away. She provides some fantastic battle themes too while the non vocal themes lean more on the guitar front that provides some great riffs though can feel like they play in a more generic loop compared to most Persona soundtracks. Overall it's another fantastic soundtrack from the Atlus sound team.
On the performance front I played the Nintendo Switch version and it definitely feels like the game was built around that platform first, with its chibi Persona Q esque artstyle and boxy map design very much complimenting the weaker hardware. The game runs at a solid 30fps and looks great for a Switch title which is all you need really. Glancing at the other platforms it seems you get 60fps and a higher resolution instead so platform choice basically comes down to where you would prefer playing it.
So despite going into this one pretty tepidly and feeling burnt out on the Phantom Thieves and the whole Persona 5 aesthetic, I managed to come out of it thoroughly enjoying myself and falling in love with the new characters. The few setbacks the game has doesn't detract that overall this is a great tactics game with an engaging story to tell and one that explores a few unique things compared to most Persona titles.
Game director crammed Persona, Fire Emblem, Mass Effect and Balan into one game. Bet he had to be talk down to make Splatoon being DLC
My fucking good, what a boring piece of garbage.
I like Persona 5 just as much as the next persona but WHY ANOTHER GAME WITH SAME CHARACTERS JOKES AND STORY STYLE. it feels like atlus is a fucking slave of this game.
The gameplay and combat is just bootleg Disgaea with horrible SMT skin and the art style is just persona 5 but chibi, Erina is pretty cool tho, the 1 star is just for her.
I like Persona 5 just as much as the next persona but WHY ANOTHER GAME WITH SAME CHARACTERS JOKES AND STORY STYLE. it feels like atlus is a fucking slave of this game.
The gameplay and combat is just bootleg Disgaea with horrible SMT skin and the art style is just persona 5 but chibi, Erina is pretty cool tho, the 1 star is just for her.
This review contains spoilers
I don't think Atlus thought out the main villain very well because why tf does he throw toshiro into his mind dungeon because "him wanting to expose his father's crimes would lower public trust in the government and that conflict would be bad" but hitler got the ok
ronde clears this
It's almost impressive how absolutely middle of the road this game is. It's art. This game is the platonic ideal of a 6.5/10.
Would've been a seven if I could walk through my own damn characters, tho.
Would've been a seven if I could walk through my own damn characters, tho.
A lot of fun for a spinoff, good new characters and fun gameplay.
Puta merda que jogo medíocre, ninguém aguenta mais os caras ordenhando o Persona 5, com esse monte de spin off sem sal. O que nós temos que fazer por um remake do 2, hein Atlus?
Persona 5 Tactica is a weird game. Atlus had a myriad of quirky marketing tactics to stir up hype for it--like sand art and cakes--but even though I found myself pretty interested in the idea of a new strategy title within the SMT franchise, the excitement for it pre-launch was pretty sparse across the internet. A mere hour or two into Tactica was when I started to feel pretty lukewarm about it myself.
A lot of my complaints come down to one root problem; the price. Everything in and surrounding this game feels as though Atlus was clawing for any small justification over the full 60 dollar price tag, but nothing the game has to offer screams 'full price'. Padding is a noticeable issue throughout a majority of its runtime--most of the dialogue seems to either repeat already established plot points, or serve as fluff simply to allow every member of the Phantom Thieves equal opportunity to voice their thoughts. The first of the four Kingdoms--similar to the Palaces of Persona 5--hosts double the missions of any of the remaining three. Even before I knew the average mission count per Kingdom, I felt my interest in the first one slipping. The first and second Kingdoms, by comparison, felt the most interesting, as they seemed to contain the real brunt of the story that Tactica was trying to tell.
And make no mistake, it is an interesting story. Toshiro and Erina are the two new not-quite members Phantom Thieves, and the story centers very much around them both and no one else. When new aspects of their narrative were being revealed, I was definitely itching for more, however they're very stingily sprinkled between large swathes of same-y missions. The worst of this is within the final Kingdom, where you're made to fight through some of the longest missions in the game, and rematch each of the main bosses you've fought so far. There's no new story during any of this, it's just an excessive leadup to the final boss that had no place in being there save to justify the price tag.
Most of Persona 5 Tactica just had me asking... Why? Who is this game even for? It's not for strategy game fans, as the game is far too easy, even on it's harder difficulties. Fans of Devil Survivor will be yawning just as much as I did through most of it's gameplay. Then is it just for fans of Persona 5, and the Thieves? ... Maybe?? I couldn't shake this feeling of it being a middling game simply wearing the flayed skin of P5. The cool UI is there, but any further interaction with the Phantom Thieves is shallow at best. As for the music... When Persona 5 collabs with now dead mobile games have had tracks that go ten times harder than anything in your Persona 5 spinoff game, I think it's time to reevaluate.
I don't hate Persona 5 Tactica, there were fun times I had with it. Toshiro and Erina are likable, the story--when it's moving--is definitely cool. This is just another case of Atlus greed. I feel like if the 3DS were still alive, this could have legitimately been one of the crazier games on it. I just wouldn't pay more than 30 bucks for it, and sadly, I did!
Now more than ever, I think it's time to move onto other Personas. Unless it's another multi-cast game, I'd be happy if I didn't see the Phantom Thieves for another 40 years.
A lot of my complaints come down to one root problem; the price. Everything in and surrounding this game feels as though Atlus was clawing for any small justification over the full 60 dollar price tag, but nothing the game has to offer screams 'full price'. Padding is a noticeable issue throughout a majority of its runtime--most of the dialogue seems to either repeat already established plot points, or serve as fluff simply to allow every member of the Phantom Thieves equal opportunity to voice their thoughts. The first of the four Kingdoms--similar to the Palaces of Persona 5--hosts double the missions of any of the remaining three. Even before I knew the average mission count per Kingdom, I felt my interest in the first one slipping. The first and second Kingdoms, by comparison, felt the most interesting, as they seemed to contain the real brunt of the story that Tactica was trying to tell.
And make no mistake, it is an interesting story. Toshiro and Erina are the two new not-quite members Phantom Thieves, and the story centers very much around them both and no one else. When new aspects of their narrative were being revealed, I was definitely itching for more, however they're very stingily sprinkled between large swathes of same-y missions. The worst of this is within the final Kingdom, where you're made to fight through some of the longest missions in the game, and rematch each of the main bosses you've fought so far. There's no new story during any of this, it's just an excessive leadup to the final boss that had no place in being there save to justify the price tag.
Most of Persona 5 Tactica just had me asking... Why? Who is this game even for? It's not for strategy game fans, as the game is far too easy, even on it's harder difficulties. Fans of Devil Survivor will be yawning just as much as I did through most of it's gameplay. Then is it just for fans of Persona 5, and the Thieves? ... Maybe?? I couldn't shake this feeling of it being a middling game simply wearing the flayed skin of P5. The cool UI is there, but any further interaction with the Phantom Thieves is shallow at best. As for the music... When Persona 5 collabs with now dead mobile games have had tracks that go ten times harder than anything in your Persona 5 spinoff game, I think it's time to reevaluate.
I don't hate Persona 5 Tactica, there were fun times I had with it. Toshiro and Erina are likable, the story--when it's moving--is definitely cool. This is just another case of Atlus greed. I feel like if the 3DS were still alive, this could have legitimately been one of the crazier games on it. I just wouldn't pay more than 30 bucks for it, and sadly, I did!
Now more than ever, I think it's time to move onto other Personas. Unless it's another multi-cast game, I'd be happy if I didn't see the Phantom Thieves for another 40 years.
Gameply is pretty fun, Toshiro is cool, and a few of the boss fights are interesting but the music extremely generic and that final dungeon could have been removed and the overall game would be better off without it.
middle aged man needs therapy but the only therapist turned into a taxi driver so these teenagers and their cat will have to do
Tactica has been called a lot of things. The spinoff no-one asked for. The milking of Persona 5. Overshadowed by P3 Reload. And... a surprisingly really good game?
I was always hoping this would be good, but even I was blown away by how FUN the core gameplay ended up being. It's simple: getting extra moves in a strategy game is always a dopamine rush (see: dancers in Fire Emblem). Tactica brings in the main series' One More mechanic, making extra moves a REWARD for good tactical plays. It's amazing how natural this feels, and that they've never tried it before.
How these tactical plays work is also simple. Enemies in cover aren't vulnerable to One Mores. Enemies out of cover are. And like most Atlus RPGs, the same rules apply to you. While the cover system isn't as deep as it could be (cover/no cover is a binary, so flanking won't do anything), the core loop of using skills or melee to knock enemies out of cover and set up your teammates to One More and move further is straight-up addictive.
Don't believe me? Play the Quests. These are short "puzzle" missions often tasking you with using the One More system to find a set of moves to win in one turn. Aiding in this is...
Another option for your One Mores: if you make a triangle around a downed enemy with your 3 allies you can perform an All Out Attack that hits everything inside. The trade-off is this cannot trigger another One More, so that'll end the initiator's actions for the turn. But you can swap to your other allies and move them without locking in their action, so keeping a few people active to "widen" the triangle before triggering is also addictive. Once switches are introduced, this "you can move as much as you like until you use an action" system gets even more fun. A character can contribute a LOT in a turn without even attacking.
Here's the catch though: the gameplay is very, very easy. After testing multiple modes I was only ever at risk of losing party members on Merciless, and even then I never lost a non-Quest battle.
But strangely... being easy didn't make the game any less fun. It still takes a lot of tactical thinking to find the smoothest way through each map, you can't just blindly throw units at the closest target.
Speaking of units, while I admit the Phantom Thieves don't feel as distinct as in other P5 games, each has their own role and some get to shine in unexpected areas. E.g you'd expect Mona and Yusuke to have high Move, but Ryuji does too due to his track background. You level up as a party rather than individually, letting you experiment with whatever combination you want for each map. The skill tree system is also interesting. While you spend skill points gained from levels to learn skills, you're free to "take back" purchases and re-allocate your points at any time, letting you swap around skillsets on the fly.
Sub-Personas return from the Q games, but fusion didn't feel as impactful here as in other games, as each Persona only has one fixed skill and one inheritable slot. Having extra skills on party members felt more useful early on, before they were deep into their personal skill trees.
There's also a weapon fusion system, but it has several downsides. Their random chance of ailments is at odds with an otherwise RNG-less experience, and they can be DETRIMENTAL sometimes (e.g freezing an enemy you'd rather lure forward). They also force you to use Personas on-hand as material where possible, even if a weaker option is available from the Compendium. In general I find range beats everything else when looking at a weapon.
Another aspect of this game that surprisingly blew me away? I was NOT expecting the OST to go this hard. And there's a good variety too as each Kingdom has its own set of tracks, including bosses. There's also 7 brand-new Lyn vocal tracks, and "Truth or Dare" is my favourite one of hers to date.
The game's story is ALSO surprisingly good, it's just not about the Phantom Thieves and I know that'll be a deal-breaker for some. It's more like the Q games in that the dungeons and bosses are symbolic of the new characters' mental struggles, but it also feels different from those on a way that's hard to describe. It might be because Toshiro is an adult, and therefore approaches his problems differently. Toshiro and Erina are both incredible characters, but I can't explain why without spoilers. I'll just say their relationship is very unique among spinoff characters and adds a lot of re-watch value once you know the full story.
The Phantom Thieves do feel under-used here though, and much of their dialogue doesn't even really "feel" like themselves. They're not ludicrously exaggerated to the extent of Chie and Akihiko in earlier spinoffs, they're just... sort of bland. There's the occasional exception though: Futaba and Haru have some very good moments later on, as they're the ones who relate the most to Toshiro due to their own issues, and Ryuji has some decent points too.
But even putting the characters aside, the core story is actually pretty decent? I was surprised at how invested I got in saving the helium-voiced cartoon people of each Kingdom. Yes, a concept that ridiculous could be genuinely moving at times, which is an achievement in itself.
To sum up, Persona 5 Tactica is a bundle of pleasant surprises. It's not a very long game for its genre (around 30 hours) so I'd still recommend picking it up on sale. But definitely give it a shot, it's one of the better spinoffs.
I was always hoping this would be good, but even I was blown away by how FUN the core gameplay ended up being. It's simple: getting extra moves in a strategy game is always a dopamine rush (see: dancers in Fire Emblem). Tactica brings in the main series' One More mechanic, making extra moves a REWARD for good tactical plays. It's amazing how natural this feels, and that they've never tried it before.
How these tactical plays work is also simple. Enemies in cover aren't vulnerable to One Mores. Enemies out of cover are. And like most Atlus RPGs, the same rules apply to you. While the cover system isn't as deep as it could be (cover/no cover is a binary, so flanking won't do anything), the core loop of using skills or melee to knock enemies out of cover and set up your teammates to One More and move further is straight-up addictive.
Don't believe me? Play the Quests. These are short "puzzle" missions often tasking you with using the One More system to find a set of moves to win in one turn. Aiding in this is...
Another option for your One Mores: if you make a triangle around a downed enemy with your 3 allies you can perform an All Out Attack that hits everything inside. The trade-off is this cannot trigger another One More, so that'll end the initiator's actions for the turn. But you can swap to your other allies and move them without locking in their action, so keeping a few people active to "widen" the triangle before triggering is also addictive. Once switches are introduced, this "you can move as much as you like until you use an action" system gets even more fun. A character can contribute a LOT in a turn without even attacking.
Here's the catch though: the gameplay is very, very easy. After testing multiple modes I was only ever at risk of losing party members on Merciless, and even then I never lost a non-Quest battle.
But strangely... being easy didn't make the game any less fun. It still takes a lot of tactical thinking to find the smoothest way through each map, you can't just blindly throw units at the closest target.
Speaking of units, while I admit the Phantom Thieves don't feel as distinct as in other P5 games, each has their own role and some get to shine in unexpected areas. E.g you'd expect Mona and Yusuke to have high Move, but Ryuji does too due to his track background. You level up as a party rather than individually, letting you experiment with whatever combination you want for each map. The skill tree system is also interesting. While you spend skill points gained from levels to learn skills, you're free to "take back" purchases and re-allocate your points at any time, letting you swap around skillsets on the fly.
Sub-Personas return from the Q games, but fusion didn't feel as impactful here as in other games, as each Persona only has one fixed skill and one inheritable slot. Having extra skills on party members felt more useful early on, before they were deep into their personal skill trees.
There's also a weapon fusion system, but it has several downsides. Their random chance of ailments is at odds with an otherwise RNG-less experience, and they can be DETRIMENTAL sometimes (e.g freezing an enemy you'd rather lure forward). They also force you to use Personas on-hand as material where possible, even if a weaker option is available from the Compendium. In general I find range beats everything else when looking at a weapon.
Another aspect of this game that surprisingly blew me away? I was NOT expecting the OST to go this hard. And there's a good variety too as each Kingdom has its own set of tracks, including bosses. There's also 7 brand-new Lyn vocal tracks, and "Truth or Dare" is my favourite one of hers to date.
The game's story is ALSO surprisingly good, it's just not about the Phantom Thieves and I know that'll be a deal-breaker for some. It's more like the Q games in that the dungeons and bosses are symbolic of the new characters' mental struggles, but it also feels different from those on a way that's hard to describe. It might be because Toshiro is an adult, and therefore approaches his problems differently. Toshiro and Erina are both incredible characters, but I can't explain why without spoilers. I'll just say their relationship is very unique among spinoff characters and adds a lot of re-watch value once you know the full story.
The Phantom Thieves do feel under-used here though, and much of their dialogue doesn't even really "feel" like themselves. They're not ludicrously exaggerated to the extent of Chie and Akihiko in earlier spinoffs, they're just... sort of bland. There's the occasional exception though: Futaba and Haru have some very good moments later on, as they're the ones who relate the most to Toshiro due to their own issues, and Ryuji has some decent points too.
But even putting the characters aside, the core story is actually pretty decent? I was surprised at how invested I got in saving the helium-voiced cartoon people of each Kingdom. Yes, a concept that ridiculous could be genuinely moving at times, which is an achievement in itself.
To sum up, Persona 5 Tactica is a bundle of pleasant surprises. It's not a very long game for its genre (around 30 hours) so I'd still recommend picking it up on sale. But definitely give it a shot, it's one of the better spinoffs.
Is this game good? Not really. Is it bad? Also not really, but I am going to be really mean to this game because it cost more than the new Zelda game did.
Going to start with the nice things. It's Persona so the music is amazing. There are a good 5 or 6 all-time bangers here. The stinker rate has also increased too though. Feels like some C-tier songs that didn't make the cut for the original game got jammed in here. But still, most of the music is pretty good. Easily the game's best quality. The combat is a pretty cool transition of Persona/SMT to the tactical genre. The way all out attacks work is really cool, it's the most imaginative thing in the whole entire game. The story has some sweet emotional moments and a nice message, but ultimately forgets that and trails off into kill god territory in a very forced manner, ruining any focus the game had. The element I thought I would hate the most is the chibi art style. I hate chibi. But to be honest, I kinda like it; it grew on me. It's just a shame nothing else did.
Okay buckle up. This game isn't that long, took me like 18 hours, but holy shit this game is SO FUCKING SLOW. Characters just talk and talk and talk about nothing. By the end I would skip any non voice-acted cutscene, and I am very confident this improved my experience with the game. If they couldn't be bothered to put an actor in a booth, I don't care. I am not going to watch 2 JPEGs grunt at each other for 10 minutes while they talk about stuff that doesn't move the story a single inch forward. I have never had less respect for the writing in any game ever. It being a non-canon spin off with no weight at all also doesn't help with the whole me not giving a fuck thing.
Even in combat the slowness is maintained, you must watch a long animation every time a gate shuts or a bridge lowers or a star explodes 30000 light years away. There is a fast forward enemy turns button in this game and somehow it's still slow, that is very impressive. Also, the enemies are fucking pathetic in this game, it is way way way too easy. Perhaps the easiest game I've played in like 4 years including full-on visual novels.
I read an article that this had like a 4 year dev time and that is fucking bonkers to me, yeah there was a global pandemic but even if you told me this had a 2 year dev time I would be gobsmacked. Everything about this game just feels so cheap. All 9 of the characters have 6 sprites each and 4 different noises that they use for 95% of the storytelling & cutscenes. There are a grand total of 5 enemy types in the entire game. All the enemies & friendly NPCs in each area are reskins of each other. There are only 4 different areas, the 4th of which is a grey cube land where every enemy is a grey recolour of the enemies from the rest of the game, and you fight the exact same bosses you’ve already beaten again but this time they’re grey too!!!
When this game launched it cost more than Tears of the Kingdom, Pikmin 4, Baldur's Gate 3, and Mario Wonder. That is fucking insane. I paid £2 across two Xbox game pass trials to play this game, and that is not much less than what I would suggest you pay for Persona 5 Tactica. Is there fun to be had? Yeah, for sure. But this is a budget title, buy it at a budget price.
Going to start with the nice things. It's Persona so the music is amazing. There are a good 5 or 6 all-time bangers here. The stinker rate has also increased too though. Feels like some C-tier songs that didn't make the cut for the original game got jammed in here. But still, most of the music is pretty good. Easily the game's best quality. The combat is a pretty cool transition of Persona/SMT to the tactical genre. The way all out attacks work is really cool, it's the most imaginative thing in the whole entire game. The story has some sweet emotional moments and a nice message, but ultimately forgets that and trails off into kill god territory in a very forced manner, ruining any focus the game had. The element I thought I would hate the most is the chibi art style. I hate chibi. But to be honest, I kinda like it; it grew on me. It's just a shame nothing else did.
Okay buckle up. This game isn't that long, took me like 18 hours, but holy shit this game is SO FUCKING SLOW. Characters just talk and talk and talk about nothing. By the end I would skip any non voice-acted cutscene, and I am very confident this improved my experience with the game. If they couldn't be bothered to put an actor in a booth, I don't care. I am not going to watch 2 JPEGs grunt at each other for 10 minutes while they talk about stuff that doesn't move the story a single inch forward. I have never had less respect for the writing in any game ever. It being a non-canon spin off with no weight at all also doesn't help with the whole me not giving a fuck thing.
Even in combat the slowness is maintained, you must watch a long animation every time a gate shuts or a bridge lowers or a star explodes 30000 light years away. There is a fast forward enemy turns button in this game and somehow it's still slow, that is very impressive. Also, the enemies are fucking pathetic in this game, it is way way way too easy. Perhaps the easiest game I've played in like 4 years including full-on visual novels.
I read an article that this had like a 4 year dev time and that is fucking bonkers to me, yeah there was a global pandemic but even if you told me this had a 2 year dev time I would be gobsmacked. Everything about this game just feels so cheap. All 9 of the characters have 6 sprites each and 4 different noises that they use for 95% of the storytelling & cutscenes. There are a grand total of 5 enemy types in the entire game. All the enemies & friendly NPCs in each area are reskins of each other. There are only 4 different areas, the 4th of which is a grey cube land where every enemy is a grey recolour of the enemies from the rest of the game, and you fight the exact same bosses you’ve already beaten again but this time they’re grey too!!!
When this game launched it cost more than Tears of the Kingdom, Pikmin 4, Baldur's Gate 3, and Mario Wonder. That is fucking insane. I paid £2 across two Xbox game pass trials to play this game, and that is not much less than what I would suggest you pay for Persona 5 Tactica. Is there fun to be had? Yeah, for sure. But this is a budget title, buy it at a budget price.
Their budget ran out after the first half
They were not lying that Persona 5 was Tactica
What I played was neat, has some interesting spins on the genre. But I've had no urge to go back and finish it at any point in the last 6 months.
This is my first Persona game and my first Strategy-RPG and I don't know a lot about either! But I had fun with it, maybe you will too? Next time I'll be playing Persona, I'll be playing Persona 5 Strikers, so stay tuned!
Probably the best Persona spinoff I've played yet.
Not only did I really dig the blend of tactical strategy RPG with Persona 5's 1 More and All-Out Attack mechanics, but I actually found the new spinoff characters and their story very engaging and fun!
Not only did I really dig the blend of tactical strategy RPG with Persona 5's 1 More and All-Out Attack mechanics, but I actually found the new spinoff characters and their story very engaging and fun!
Pretty good game, and almost great. The tactical gameplay was fantastic. Learning to optimise the one more system and triangle attack mechanic felt super satisfying. But, the game was way to easy, I played on Hard Mode and it felt like a cakewalk. The only challenge I experienced was being optimal with my gameplay by clearing maps quicker and the side quests which were pretty hard at times. The main campaign is really easy because its basically impossible to die unless you make really really poor judgements. I will definitely play on Merciless next time and I'd recommend almost anyone do the same. Despite the difficulty I still found this game to be engaging.
Hot take, while I liked the OST, for a Persona game it felt weak. Not my favorite soundtrack but not bad by any means. Story was "good" however it suffered from being predictable if you've played the other Q games, Tactica basically feels like a sequel to those two games with similar circumstances and plot revelations just without the crossover stuff. But unlike Q the story didnt leave a lasting impression, partly because I dont like how they left one character alive. If they did leave them dead I think the story could've hit a lot harder, however it is going for a lighter tone so I understand why they didnt... As I said the story is good but I still prefer Persona Q's story or Persona 5 Strikers.
While I do not recommend this game at full price, if you play it on Gamepass like I did then it's definitely worth it if you're a Persona fan. I know a lot of people criticise spinoffs like this but to me it's more Persona content that does add new worthwhile stories and gameplay variety to the series.
Hot take, while I liked the OST, for a Persona game it felt weak. Not my favorite soundtrack but not bad by any means. Story was "good" however it suffered from being predictable if you've played the other Q games, Tactica basically feels like a sequel to those two games with similar circumstances and plot revelations just without the crossover stuff. But unlike Q the story didnt leave a lasting impression, partly because I dont like how they left one character alive. If they did leave them dead I think the story could've hit a lot harder, however it is going for a lighter tone so I understand why they didnt... As I said the story is good but I still prefer Persona Q's story or Persona 5 Strikers.
While I do not recommend this game at full price, if you play it on Gamepass like I did then it's definitely worth it if you're a Persona fan. I know a lot of people criticise spinoffs like this but to me it's more Persona content that does add new worthwhile stories and gameplay variety to the series.