Persona 5 Tactica Review – Viva La Revolution

Again in April 2017, I stumbled upon a sport within the PlayStation retailer. For some cause – whether or not the flashy key artwork or character design – I did one thing I by no means do: I purchased the sport with none analysis. No evaluations, no gameplay footage, nothing. It ended up being one of many greatest surprises and finest gaming purchases I’ve ever made. That sport was Persona 5.

Quick ahead to now, and I’ve performed all of the spin-offs, reviewed just a few of them, and have a everlasting reminder of my love for the sequence within the type of a tattoo. So once I say I’m a fan, I imply it fairly emphatically.

In fact, I jumped on the alternative to evaluate Persona 5 Tactica, the most recent tactical RPG entry to the sequence. Having performed by Persona 5 Tactica, skilled its new story, and gotten to grips with its foray into one other new style, I can say it’s a good sport, but in addition one which I consider doesn’t fairly do sufficient to reside as much as my expectations or its namesake. Persona 5 Tactica is my least favourite within the P5 household of video games.

Key Particulars

• Developer – Atlus
• Writer – SEGA
• Launch Date – November 17, 2023
• Worth – $59.99

Didn’t Fairly Steal My Coronary heart This Time

These accustomed to Atlus don’t want to listen to from me that their storytelling tends to be top-notch, which is doubly true relating to Persona 5 titles. However how does it fare this time round? It’s fairly good, albeit there have been just a few gripes and grievances that nagged at me, and it’s undoubtedly not the franchise’s finest exhibiting.

When it comes to setting the scene, it’s the identical schtick you could have seen from the Phantom Thieves earlier than; they’re going about their typical day, one thing wacky occurs, they usually find yourself in a brand new world crammed with hazard and despair. This time round, it takes place in areas referred to as Kingdoms, areas crammed with downtrodden victims of tyrannical rulers, and it’s as much as you and the opposite Phantom Thieves to set issues proper and produce on the revolution.

From there, followers can anticipate that Persona 5 goodness to return at you with full power, with a plot that after once more touches on some somewhat critical subject material and tells it in a largely efficient manner, though this time not fairly in addition to earlier iterations. 

I gained’t expose all of the juicy particulars on this evaluate since a Persona sport’s power is its storytelling. Nonetheless, what’s right here I discovered fairly entertaining, particularly the primary couple of hours, throwing you into the sport with little preparation. I used to be fired up and prepared for the motion, and it did ship that off the bat throughout these opening hours. Nevertheless, it started to ebb and circulate between partaking and sluggish.

You expertise a lot of the story by dialogue in static screens, with nonetheless pictures of the sport’s characters that alternate relying on context and the dialogue, with the occasional dialogue option to maintain you engaged. It additionally makes loads of references to occasions and characters from the unique Persona in these moments that newer gamers will possible be clueless about. It has a memo system that provides notes and particulars on these occasions, but it surely’s nonetheless value mentioning since gamers unfamiliar with the sequence aren’t precisely eased into the world.

At occasions, they had been fascinating, pushing the plot into its subsequent moments, and stored me invested on the planet and the struggles of its characters, particularly within the extra pivotal moments. However exterior of these extra impactful moments, my consideration tended to float a bit after they overstayed their welcome. 

The place different Persona titles continuously had hooks protecting me concerned, whether or not that’s by aspect conversations or the Confidant system – which as soon as once more isn’t included on this spin-off – Tactica would often lose me and actually make me a bit worn out studying by and listening to a lot dialogue; one thing I by no means thought id say with a Persona title.

Like different titles, it’s a granular course of and takes a little bit of time to get going, and that’s the case right here. However this time, it didn’t hook me fairly as a lot as earlier video games of the world had. Whether or not that’s because of the style and artistic decisions or franchise fatigue will fluctuate from participant to participant, although for me, it’s possible a little bit of each.

In that regard, it’s one of many weaker tales relating to pacing within the P5 catalog. It’s additionally a way more linear providing with out a number of the aptitude in different video games, like the liberty to discover areas or having daytimers between main occasions. As an alternative, it has little to no wriggle room, and it’s a little bit of a downer due to that.

With that mentioned, my greatest cause for enjoying Persona is the characters; as soon as once more, they’re the celebrities of the present and saved me from my moments of waning consideration. 

The entire major solid is again, and it seems like seeing outdated pals once more. Every is uniquely distinct, with a combination of troupes and quirks that add taste to the sport, making each second extra fulfilling, together with those that strained my consideration. What’s extra, all of them work collectively brilliantly. Every character has a relationship with one other, they usually all play off one another in what feels very natural and pure for a younger group of youngsters, albeit with a bit extra know-how. It’s the glue that holds the plot collectively. 

The one draw back is that this sport has the least private moments between the characters and your self, the protagonist. It as soon as once more doesn’t embrace some model of the good Confidant system both seen within the first title, which supplied so lots of these moments. Nevertheless, excluding these, they nonetheless had been a spotlight of the expertise, only one with rather less oomph.

The brand new characters Erina and Toshiro slot into the group effortlessly, including their very own personalities to the group with out being outdone or overshadowing the opposite solid members, and each are equally distinct. Erina brings a fiery, decided angle to the group and missions, whereas Toshiro is slightly comedian reduction with some shocking revelations to find. 

On prime of that, everyone seems to be absolutely voiced as soon as once more by the identical actors in each Japanese and English, they usually all do a stellar job of as soon as once more bringing the characters to life, although by this level, that’s to be anticipated.

Let’s get all the way down to brass tax: Is the story unhealthy? No, it’s not. The truth is, I can see it being very fulfilling for a lot of gamers, and whereas I had some grievances with the sport, it was not badly instructed or introduced. However for me, somebody who has performed many hours of practically each Persona 5 title, it wasn’t fairly as partaking as others, and the characters did slightly extra heavy lifting this time round to make it fulfilling.

The Phantom Thieves Return In Type

In fact, I can’t discuss a Persona sport with out mentioning its visuals and sound design; in reality, it will be legal to not, and they’re, as anticipated, completely incredible.

Sporting a extra cartoony model this time round, the sport is a feast for the eyes, very similar to Persona titles earlier than. It has ample coloration, model, aptitude, and appeal that make it an actual spectacle. Cutscenes are one of the best instance of this, with absolutely animated and voiced characters in all their glory, although these are few and much between. 

Each Kingdom is trendy and diverse, with a distinct theme and time interval inspiring the look of the enemies, areas, and battlefields that deliver the world to life with numerous eye sweet, together with a European-style fortress and metropolis and Japanese city and temple. As for characters, they’re only a good trying, all sporting their identical seems and apparel each out and in of Phantom Thief gear, and their redesigns to suit the extra cartoon model don’t take away any of the distinct options or model however reiterate it into this new model of the Persona 5 world.

Accompanying this visible deal with is an equally incredible soundtrack, which sees Persona 5’s resident vocal queen Lyn Inaizumi return to supply her voice to a number of new tracks, all of which share the identical combination of acid-jazz, rock, funk, digital, and the rest they fancy. In fight, dialogue, cutscenes, you title it, it’s bought a stellar piece of music underpinning all of it, and it as soon as once more a number of the finest you’ll hear, possible in any sport.

Every little thing from large animations all the way down to essentially the most minor UI particulars is trendy, sharp, and detailed, and its music is fantastically carried out and exceptionally inventive; all of it showcases but once more the crew’s creativity and dedication to creating their video games look nearly as good as potential.

Tacti-Kinda-Cool

For this latest outing of Persona 5, Altus has determined to take a crack at a tactical RPG, and with that comes loads of the style staples with some Persona twists thrown in. You may anticipate deep tactical gameplay, layered mechanics, and a few RPG parts to prime it off. For essentially the most half, you’d be appropriate, however in addition they left me slightly deflated.

The core gameplay sees your occasion of three, which you select from the pretty intensive record earlier than a mission, sort out fight in opposition to a bunch of enemies in single-area maps. Inside these maps, you’ll discover cowl to keep away from and mitigate harm, therapeutic spots to get well being again, and totally different ranges of elevations that present bonuses to your strategic choices. In that sense, it’s acquainted to followers of the style whereas additionally being fairly accessible to newcomers, primarily because the sport is closely tutorialized and explains every thing nicely, so there is no such thing as a want to fret if you’re new to it.

It’s a quicker-paced sport than you may anticipate for a tactical RPG. Most battles might be over comparatively shortly, taking me round ten or barely extra minutes to clear generally when against video games like Hearth Emblem or XCOM, which generally take virtually double that. That’s partly resulting from a number of the sport’s Persona-flavored options working their manner into the core gameplay.

For one, you could have the sport’s model of the One Extra System. This sees gamers get further motion after downing an enemy, much like how resistance works in Persona 5, although in an easier vogue. You assault an enemy out of canopy or use a Persona talent to get them out and weak, after which you possibly can take one other motion to assault, transfer, and arrange extra methods. In fact, with some apply, this turns into second nature, and you’ll discover it extremely straightforward to chain collectively a seemingly countless chain of strikes throughout your occasion.

Then you could have the Triple Menace, a ending move-style assault, like Showtimes seen in earlier titles, that has the potential to wipe an entire battle’s enemies in a single go. You may set off one by knocking an enemy down, which is able to trigger a triangle-shaped space to seem between your characters, which you’ll transfer round to encapsulate your enemies and blast them away with a flashy animation and heaps of harm. They each are good additions that add a number of the distinct Persona aptitude but in addition contribute to one in all my major points with the gameplay.

The place you can argue tactical video games can drag on their fight, Persona 5 Tactica typically feels the alternative. I might blast by encounters with little to no subject, even on the upper difficulties, which didn’t current any actual problem. In fact, some took a bit longer to finish, however even then, they nonetheless felt comparatively speedy. 

I discovered that I wasn’t all the time as cautious as I might have thought, and at occasions, I used to be surprisingly aggressive in my method since utilizing melee to arrange assaults or transfer enemies, and pushing for these further strikes was simpler the extra I took the struggle to the enemy. It’s definitely a distinct form of tactical sport in that regard and one I did discover enjoyable at occasions, but it surely made that sense of rushing by the sport extra prevalent as I progressed. It additionally made the rewards for non-compulsory aims on every mission much less particular since they weren’t an actual problem, and clearing phases faster with no KOs proved the norm.

The exceptions to this had been the boss battles, which supplied some further problem and thrilling gameplay alternatives. That is additionally doubly true for Quests, which had been non-compulsory missions sprinkled all through the sport that had been a spotlight when it comes to their problem and pleasure. Some require you to complete a stage in a single flip, whereas others may contain shifting an object to a set location. These supplied extra selection than many story missions and had been a few of my favourite moments with Tactica.

I’m not suggesting that the sport’s core gameplay or mechanics are missing or that they weren’t enjoyable. They didn’t fairly gel with me as a lot as I anticipated, and the faster, comparatively straightforward missions grew slightly tedious after some time, even when I discovered the way in which I used to be enjoying them somewhat fulfilling.

Persona Powered Revolution 

We’ve touched on the tactical a part of the sport; now let’s discover the RPG parts, which mix outdated, acquainted personas with some new and reworked additions for a strong bundle. 

Given it’s within the title, let’s contact on Personas first. These highly effective beings give gamers their powers and the flexibility to make use of particular assaults, buff allies, and heal throughout battle. These return to Tactica and have just a few modifications this time. 

On the one hand, some restrictions from earlier titles have been eliminated. The place Joker, the participant character, was initially the one one ready to make use of a number of Personas, now each occasion member can have their main, story-related Persona and a Sub Persona. These Sub Persona work the identical manner as your major ones, offering further stats to whomever they’re outfitted to and bringing further talents to offer you extra choices and selection in your occasion make-up. 

Nevertheless, alternatively, they’re additionally restricted greater than earlier iterations of Persona 5. These Sub-Personas solely have two talents, one by default and one inherited by the fusing approach seen in earlier video games, letting you mash Persona collectively to create new ones.

It creates this trade-off that I discover equal components well-designed but in addition a bit jarring. The smaller variety of talents and dividing Personas amongst the occasion make every selection extra impactful and provides everybody slightly extra freedom in how you employ them in comparison with different video games. That mentioned, I couldn’t assist however really feel that it was lacking a number of the depth we had seen beforehand within the sequence or what may have been. Not that it’s unhealthy, thoughts you, only one a Persona 5 fan like me needed to familiarize yourself with.

Moreover, The Velvet Room makes it return for gamers to fuse, handle, and experiment with the Personas, as soon as once more starring Lavenza as its caretaker and serving to you deal with all of your Persona-specific wants. Like Persona’s, this can be a little dumbed down than earlier than, with fewer choices to unlock as you progress by the sport, although nonetheless giving gamers a wholesome quantity of selection and depth. It shortly turns into second nature to move right here after unlocking new Personas from missions or to beef up your occasion with some new additions, and in that respect, it’s exactly what it must be and does it to nice impact.

Then we’ve Talent Timber, the brand new addition to the franchise that permits for extra selection in the way you progress your occasion members. Every character has its personal tree, all of that are comparable other than just a few distinctive passive talents and their respective parts, and all do offer you some noticeable upgrades as you earn Development Factors to unlock extra of the tree. It’s a pleasant addition that fills the hole left by the easier and absent methods, including slightly of that depth again into the combination.

Every system provides to the expertise in notable methods, although some felt extra impactful than others or slightly extra fleshed out. That mentioned, collectively, they add some layers to the gameplay that I used to be grateful for, and that did scratch that tactical and RPG itch, simply possibly not fully.

Verdict

If I sounded conflicted on this evaluate, it’s as a result of I used to be. I’ve a deep love for Persona 5, evident from my beforehand talked about tattoo, and I’m all the time keen to strive the subsequent journey involving these incredible characters. However as you possibly can inform by this level, it wasn’t fairly what I had hoped for.

The strategic gameplay is enjoyable however isn’t fairly as deep as I anticipated. The story has moments that felt very on-brand for the sequence and nicely carried out, whereas at another factors, I wasn’t grabbed like I felt I ought to. The RPG parts are nicely made and add to the expertise, however they don’t have the identical punch as its namesake.

I can see followers of the sequence having fun with it, however in comparison with its brothers, it isn’t as sturdy an entry, and franchise fatigue performs a component in my emotions in direction of the sport. Maybe Atlus ought to take into account seeking to the subsequent period of Persona earlier than they find yourself tarnishing the nice legacy created with this one.