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.