Games worth discovering

Persona 5 Tactica has arrived, and it is ADORABLE! But...

866 View2023-11-22

Game: Persona 5 Tactica

Platform: Switch / PS5 / PS4 / Xbox

Genre: Tactics / Strategy / Story Focused

Released: November 17th

Price: $60 USD

Overview & Story
I'm sure you're wondering if you need to play the other games to appreciate this one, because it's mainly centered around the relationships of all of the Phantom Thieves.

The answer is that you don't need to know much if you haven't played the prior games because the game does a great job of giving you some background information on what and who they are and what they did in Persona 5 as a whole.

However, if you want to get the most out of the experience, I recommend playing through Persona 5 Royal, getting the full experience, and then returning to this game to appreciate it a bit more because you'll have a stronger bond with each character or your favorite character and want to play it more due to the attachment.

This is a spin off of Persona 5, following the political issues surrounding what they have done in that game, while having to face off against a tyrannical queen, Marie who ends up brainwashing everyone but Morgana and Joker. You have to stop her and get everyone back to their senses. It starts off great, but the pacing dies down.

Graphics & Presentation
Straight up adorable.

Persona is a series that knows how to make their visuals stand out. Everything is bright and noticeable, making it difficult to overlook anything. The music is a banger, and the sound effects they use, together with their amazing roster of voice actors, bring each character's personality out via sheer expressiveness. However, this is where the game appears to throw in the towel somewhere down the line.

The voice acting becomes sporadic 5 hours in. The actors vanish here and there and then jump back in when you least expect it. This is frequently done with relationship portions or when interacting with characters outside of the main dialog. However, this occurs both in the main story and in cutscenes where they should be talking. I'm not sure if this is a mistake or a cost-cutting measure, but given the money they ask and the gameplay supplied. I would expect full services including the voices.

Gameplay & Combat
This would be determined by your overall strategic ability. I wouldn't say the gameplay is particularly difficult or interesting unless you do nightmare mode, which is generally self-torture for those who want insanely difficult challenges, but they also offer everything in between including story mode, which makes you immortal.

The gameplay will mostly consist of you sitting back and absorbing the dialogue and plot as you go through the story and acquire more powerful upgrades and skills for your Phantom Thieves. Unlike in Person 5, Joker, also known as the Trickster, may no longer wield an endless number of Personas and is instead limited to only one at a time. Everyone else can now swap between personas to alter up their styles.

Complete quests for each character to acquire GP and unlock greater skills. Take on story missions, which are essentially re-skinned models with highly linear tracking. It will get a bit boring later down the line, but it's got some okay gameplay.

Conclusion
I believe this because of my prior experience with the characters and the plot. I developed a bond with some characters, and following all of the memes surrounding characters such as Morgana makes the situation more bearable. However, if I had never played P5, I would have not enjoyed this game as much as I did. I don't think I would have cared much about this game and would have given it a 3/10.

Generally speaking. This game isn't impressive, at least in terms of a turn-based strategic game. The objectives are a little too simple, with things like escape in one turn using what is effectively a pretty linear type of strategy to achieve success.

The voice acting cutting in and out at times and forcing me to read, especially since I adore the English voice actors and am particularly interested in the series as a part.

It's definitely cute and well-put-together. However, the money they demand and the quality of content you receive in return appear to be a way to obviously to milk the brand. Now, I adore the Persona series and have played through every game in the series. But there are some boundaries to what I will accept and decline.