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(For instance, Mona can transform into his car form to whack a few enemies.) I’d love to see a mainline Persona game with this combat system. Each Phantom Thief plays distinctly enough to show personality, with natural expansions to their techniques. On a brighter note, the new Dynasty Warriors-style combat is incredible.
When does persona 5 strikers come out full#
Nearly every major conversation has full voice acting, since there are so few side activities on offer, but I would’ve preferred to see at least a few old faces. This is a Phantom Thieves-only adventure.
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There’s no reappearance from characters like Takemi, Iwai, or Akechi. Strikers also nixes the entire supporting cast. Something that P5 did so well was focus on the little things - like how Makoto clenched her fists from excitement during action movies. You’ll occasionally get invited to share a meal with a character, but these moments are spent, again, showing off their most obvious quirks. Other Phantom Thieves fall into similarly grating patterns, designed to remind the audience why they originally adored the character without the nuance.Īlice, an early villain in Persona 5 Strikers AtlusĪnother drawback is that Strikers seldom feature spaces to bond with characters removed from the noise of the main story. A recurring line of hers references the song “Last Surprise” from the P5 soundtrack, and the lab-engineered fan service is an irritating distraction. Futaba gingerly knocked on the fourth wall throughout P5 but tears the whole thing down in Strikers. We’re excessively reminded of everyone’s most memorable quirks. It’s in the story’s character-focused moments that Strikers’ grating clip-show vibes begin to grate. That’s because they are! Strikers replaces the dynamic character growth you remember from P5 with basically cardboard cutouts of the characters. When you begin Strikers, the Phantom Thieves’ are exactly how you remember them – like they’re in stasis. The Phantom Thieves remain exactly how you remember them The first ‘good’ Jail came around hour 25, which is too long to wait. On the bright side, Strikers is a rather short game, taking around 35 to 50 hours to complete compared to P5’s 100+ hour runtime. The pacing picks up significantly around the halfway point when Jails become more distinct from one another. These lightweight consequences make the game feel like it progresses at a glacial pace, performing almost a halfhearted imitation of what a Persona game should be. For example, the opening Jail is ruled by a pop idol who makes obsessive fans purchase all her merch. The stakes in Strikers feel far less important. Joker and his Persona, Arsené in the new format. By completing a Palace, the evildoer would change their ways, making it feel like your efforts were crucial to improving the world as a whole. P5’s opening act centers around an attempted suicide, really bringing home the life-or-death stakes of these dungeons.
When does persona 5 strikers come out serial#
Palaces were domains ruled by repugnant humans like serial abusers, corrupt politicians, and evil businessmen. Jails don’t carry the narrative weight that Palaces did in the original game, either. For some reason, Strikers spends far too long explaining this concept, which doesn’t make sense when the target audience is already familiar with P5. Both Palaces and Jails are essentially dungeons you must clear to progress the game. The Metaverse app that allowed them to enter Palaces has been replaced by EMMA, a new Alexa-esque virtual assistant that lets them enter Jails. The story mostly sees the Phantom Thieves rehashing a lesser version of their last adventure. The new combat system is fantastic and fresh, but everything else just feels scattered. You need to have played P5 to understand the game, but there’s not quite enough meat on the bone here to satisfy diehards. While marketed as a sequel, Strikers feels more like a reunion special rather than the next logical step in the Phantom Thieves’ story. Gratifying RPG elements from P5 - like relationship building and character progression - have been removed. P5’s deeply strategic combat system has been replaced with rapid-fire Dynasty Warriors-style battles. All that social-sim stuff has been pruned away because the Phantom Thieves are on a road trip for summer vacation. Unfortunately, Strikers strips away much of what distinguishes P5 from other games, other than the endearing main cast. The blend of high-concept modern fantasy with intricate social-sim elements makes P5 an unforgettable ride. That role-playing game follows a group of Tokyo-based high schoolers who moonlight as agents of change called "The Phantom Thieves." When the player isn't fighting the proverbial “man,” they're navigating the challenges of a typical high schooler - making friends, studying for exams, and becoming a well-rounded human being. Persona 5 Strikersis the supposed sequel to 2017’s widely acclaimed Persona 5.
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