Persona 5 is one of my favorite games of all time, and I cannot believe that I have been lucky enough to get a sequel for it, no less a worthy sequel. Persona 5 Strikers is the best gaming experience I've had since Ghost of Tsushima months ago. Finally, I had a game I was itching to get home to and play for 2-3 hours every night for a few weeks. Every night I sat down, jumped back in with the Phantom Thieves, and was whisked away to one of my favorite worlds. And I was happy.
Persona 5 Strikers boasts a soundtrack just as good as the first game, if not better, with a streamlined dungeon experience and musou combat courtesy of Koei Tecmo. Be aware this is a Persona game with hints of musou - everything from the menus to the styles to the regular gameplay is just the same as Persona 5. Musou fans won't find hundred enemy battles here nor the combat they're used to, but instead a perfect reimagining of the turn-based combat from Persona 5 as live combat. From elemental advantages to specific spells and items and stat systems, it's all familiar and yet new. And it's perhaps even flashier than its predecessor, if that's possible.
Just getting to spend another 40 hours with the Phantom Thieves has made me content and left me grinning on its own. I will be the first to admit the writing on this game falls pretty short of what the first game offered, but nonetheless the characters were just being themselves. They do talk about food A LOT though. And hey, I don't mind. Some of them, like Yusuke and Haru, got to grow in a really meaningful way. Others, like Ryuji, kind of just the same the whole time. I wish the game had found a way for each of them to have some meaningful character growth, but that's Showtime baby.
I still can barely believe this game exists, but now that it's done I'm happy to say I'm sated. I don't mind if we don't get another game featuring the Phantom Thieves (I don't know why we would). This is one I could, and will come back to though. The combat is pure Gand-core, and what more can you ask for? Flying karate and upside down gun shoes abound here. If you played Persona 5, you must play Strikers. Just hanging out in this world again with the teens I loved so much, well. There's not a lot more I could have asked for.
Persona 5 Strikers boasts a soundtrack just as good as the first game, if not better, with a streamlined dungeon experience and musou combat courtesy of Koei Tecmo. Be aware this is a Persona game with hints of musou - everything from the menus to the styles to the regular gameplay is just the same as Persona 5. Musou fans won't find hundred enemy battles here nor the combat they're used to, but instead a perfect reimagining of the turn-based combat from Persona 5 as live combat. From elemental advantages to specific spells and items and stat systems, it's all familiar and yet new. And it's perhaps even flashier than its predecessor, if that's possible.
Just getting to spend another 40 hours with the Phantom Thieves has made me content and left me grinning on its own. I will be the first to admit the writing on this game falls pretty short of what the first game offered, but nonetheless the characters were just being themselves. They do talk about food A LOT though. And hey, I don't mind. Some of them, like Yusuke and Haru, got to grow in a really meaningful way. Others, like Ryuji, kind of just the same the whole time. I wish the game had found a way for each of them to have some meaningful character growth, but that's Showtime baby.
I still can barely believe this game exists, but now that it's done I'm happy to say I'm sated. I don't mind if we don't get another game featuring the Phantom Thieves (I don't know why we would). This is one I could, and will come back to though. The combat is pure Gand-core, and what more can you ask for? Flying karate and upside down gun shoes abound here. If you played Persona 5, you must play Strikers. Just hanging out in this world again with the teens I loved so much, well. There's not a lot more I could have asked for.