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A view on Persona 5: The Phantom X from a Persona series fan

1K View2023-04-19

Okay long time series fan here that still calls bonds social links ( If someone doesn't know what social links are they haven't played anything besides Persona 5 ) and wanted to give my opinion on another spinoff in the series. First I'll go into detail how the Persona series flows game wise.

1. Make a main Persona game and build hype.

2. Release game and get ready to make spinoffs like no tomorrow.

3. Use funds from spinoffs to make other projects or expand on a main game example being P5R or P4 Golden.

4. Repeat every main game or successful spinoff.

It's not a bad thing but I just didn't like the dancing/rhythm games but I did love the fighting games that were made and Golden is a master piece already but improved to new heights. Now for the biggest problem which is Persona 5: The Phantom X.

It's a live service game which is a huge risk with people outright rejecting most live service games.

Marvel's Avengers is a live service that was a massive juggernaut ( pun intended ) with ads everywhere but ultimately failed massively for Square Enix even with those big heroes and ads running everywhere.

Anthem is another big title that failed but this one tried its best ( community mostly ) to stay alive. While Anthem doesn't have the support from big characters like Marvel's Avengers has it shows how something so hyped up could still fail.

Now how does this effect Persona 5 X? Well some long time fans might not like how a live service game works. Waiting for content might be the biggest problem they could face. Some people could probably speed run it and hit walls or reach the end of the story progress so far leaving them with only social links and getting Personas plus other small activities ( unless they wall those too with limits or stamina).

A live service game has to make money like a gacha game which is okay but with a game like Persona could they find a good balance between content and paid content? Certain Personas will be locked behind a gacha or paywall which is OK but if said Persona costs more than 10 dollars or you buy more than five you could've just bought a Persona game and probably even use that Persona from just that purchase.

Skins will probably cost money so that's a given but that's fair in almost any game with some exceptions. The characters might be gacha pulls and that's where it could get pricey. I'm not into marketing but I know that if they put Kotone Shiomi from Persona 3 portable ( exclusive female protagonist in the psp port ) people will drop money 💰 like it's on fire.

Most people will get her because she's Waifu but real fans will get her because of Persona 3 portable. Kotone Shiomi could probably hit Ganyu Genshin impact numbers if done right but let's move on.

Now for those of you who care about faithfulness in games and censorship well I got some bad news.

In the CN version certain Personas have gotten censored but still manage to look good. The Lamia on the right side actually looks good and was given a larger chest at the cost of a net top shirt. While it's only confirmed in the CN version it could reach the others but nobody knows yet. While on the topic of censorship I do hope no events, social link ( bonds ) , or stories get censored while Japan and Korea get the stories intact. The Persona series has a M rating on most of its games so that could spell trouble but let's hope not.

Now the game play is reused assets from Persona 5 ( which is a very good thing ) and the story is on the Persona 5 time-line as well which is wonderful. My only concern is getting walled by stamina or reaching the end of the content made thus far but other than that it's good.

Final points I have are that they focus on content and player feedback while striking a good balance on gacha elements of the game and to go easy on prices. Having good prices where a mid or low spender can afford will look good and turn some f2p players to low or even mid spenders. Don't forget to give out freebies like free pulls and premium currency to entice f2p to stay. Hopefully when it releases it will be profitable and stay up while getting funds for future projects ( Persona 6 please) and maybe more spinoffs.

If you made it this far thank you so much for giving this a read and a chance! I appreciate your feedback and support ❤️! Hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for your support!