"Persona 5 Tactica" is a very strange little game. Strange, but ultimately very interesting, and honestly, pretty fun.
I was a little bit worried about playing this one when I first saw the trailers for it, entirely because I am just not a fan of tactical games like this. I remember trying to play "Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle" a while ago and just not getting anything out of it. I also tried playing "XCOM" some time in the past, but it also just didn't really click with me. I think I just don't really vibe with that kind of game genre, I much prefer relying on quick reactions than having to plan out strategies.
And that's why I was so surprised to find myself actually enjoying "Persona 5 Tactica" quite a bit.
I found the combat to be pretty engaging, and while it could be frustrating at times, I still enjoyed playing through it almost the entirety of the time. I ended up enjoying it way more than I was expecting to. I think what makes this game click with me over other tactical games is that it's not really trying to be a great tactical game; its trying to be a great "Persona 5" game. It focuses far more on making the combat feel like "Persona 5"'s combat, emulating the ebbs and flows, and reproducing the same dopamine rush you get from downing enemies or pulling an all-out-attack. The game prioritizes the feeling you get playing "Persona 5" over creating a strong tactical game, and for that, I am thankful for.
However, I have to admit, that this isn't inherently a good thing. I love this direction because I love "Persona 5" and don't really like tactical games; but for people who do like tactical games, I just can't see them getting too much out of this. Aside from a few of the quests and a couple end game missions, I never really found myself having to actually strategize at all. I'd just run around, try to knock a guy down, and then make the biggest triangle I could to pull of an all-out-attack and that was about it. Sure, there might have been a little bit more like using skills to move enemies or taking advantage of special abilities, but for the most part, I rarely felt like I ever had to come up with a plan to get through a level. For me this was great, but if you go into this game with the mindset of a tactical player, you may be disappointed. (I played this game on normal, so maybe this might not be the case on higher difficulties. But it seems like all that changes with difficulty is damage output and health numbers, so I doubt it.)
Outside of the combat, I found myself loving almost everything else about the game. "Persona 5 Royal" is my favorite game ever, so being able to see my favorite characters interact again had me feeling all whimsical. The art design is incredibly cute, and the music is, of course, absolutely phenomenal. The only thing I feel kind of mixed on is the story. Don't get me wrong, it works, but it just feels the least inspired of everything that came out of "Persona 5". It has its moments, but having a fairly predictable story about some government dude dealing with his trauma just isn't all that interesting, especially when you consider they basically already did that in "Persona 5 Strikers". I don't really think its bad, I just don't think its as great as it could be.
And the only other thing I feel mixed on is persona fusions. They work basically the same way that they did in "Persona Q"; instead of having a bunch of personas for the protagonist to shift through, every character is given one extra persona to carry along with their original one. This worked pretty well in "Persona Q" and honestly, it works pretty well here. My problem with this game's persona fusion is that there is just no reason to bother with offensive skills at all. Magic attacks only affect enemies in regards to their movement (they will either be forced to move their space, force them to stay still, reduce their movement next turn, or not allow them to attack next turn), this works great for the game itself, but since everyone already has a magic ability that already does one of these, I never saw a reason to bother giving my characters another one. It's not too much of a problem since it works pretty well for the game itself, but I just found myself using personas for their stat boosts and maybe support skills for the entirety of the game. But again, its not too much of a loss so I can't be too upset by it.
Overall, I like "Persona 5 Tactica" quite a lot for what it is. It gave me an excuse to dive back into my favorite series again and I love it for that. Almost everything clicks pretty well here, and I was pretty prepared to give it and eight out of ten by the end of the third kingdom. However, the final ten levels or so are just....not good. You have to fight every boss in the game again with little to no changes to them, and then you have to fight the final boss which I found to be nothing more than a chore. I might be my least favorite boss in a "Persona" game. These last few levels left such a bad taste in my mouth that I had no choice but to lower my score by a point. Its still a pretty strong game, and one you should certainly play if you love "Persona 5", but it has its fair share of issues, and I can't see people who aren't already "Persona 5" fans getting anything out of this.
I was a little bit worried about playing this one when I first saw the trailers for it, entirely because I am just not a fan of tactical games like this. I remember trying to play "Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle" a while ago and just not getting anything out of it. I also tried playing "XCOM" some time in the past, but it also just didn't really click with me. I think I just don't really vibe with that kind of game genre, I much prefer relying on quick reactions than having to plan out strategies.
And that's why I was so surprised to find myself actually enjoying "Persona 5 Tactica" quite a bit.
I found the combat to be pretty engaging, and while it could be frustrating at times, I still enjoyed playing through it almost the entirety of the time. I ended up enjoying it way more than I was expecting to. I think what makes this game click with me over other tactical games is that it's not really trying to be a great tactical game; its trying to be a great "Persona 5" game. It focuses far more on making the combat feel like "Persona 5"'s combat, emulating the ebbs and flows, and reproducing the same dopamine rush you get from downing enemies or pulling an all-out-attack. The game prioritizes the feeling you get playing "Persona 5" over creating a strong tactical game, and for that, I am thankful for.
However, I have to admit, that this isn't inherently a good thing. I love this direction because I love "Persona 5" and don't really like tactical games; but for people who do like tactical games, I just can't see them getting too much out of this. Aside from a few of the quests and a couple end game missions, I never really found myself having to actually strategize at all. I'd just run around, try to knock a guy down, and then make the biggest triangle I could to pull of an all-out-attack and that was about it. Sure, there might have been a little bit more like using skills to move enemies or taking advantage of special abilities, but for the most part, I rarely felt like I ever had to come up with a plan to get through a level. For me this was great, but if you go into this game with the mindset of a tactical player, you may be disappointed. (I played this game on normal, so maybe this might not be the case on higher difficulties. But it seems like all that changes with difficulty is damage output and health numbers, so I doubt it.)
Outside of the combat, I found myself loving almost everything else about the game. "Persona 5 Royal" is my favorite game ever, so being able to see my favorite characters interact again had me feeling all whimsical. The art design is incredibly cute, and the music is, of course, absolutely phenomenal. The only thing I feel kind of mixed on is the story. Don't get me wrong, it works, but it just feels the least inspired of everything that came out of "Persona 5". It has its moments, but having a fairly predictable story about some government dude dealing with his trauma just isn't all that interesting, especially when you consider they basically already did that in "Persona 5 Strikers". I don't really think its bad, I just don't think its as great as it could be.
And the only other thing I feel mixed on is persona fusions. They work basically the same way that they did in "Persona Q"; instead of having a bunch of personas for the protagonist to shift through, every character is given one extra persona to carry along with their original one. This worked pretty well in "Persona Q" and honestly, it works pretty well here. My problem with this game's persona fusion is that there is just no reason to bother with offensive skills at all. Magic attacks only affect enemies in regards to their movement (they will either be forced to move their space, force them to stay still, reduce their movement next turn, or not allow them to attack next turn), this works great for the game itself, but since everyone already has a magic ability that already does one of these, I never saw a reason to bother giving my characters another one. It's not too much of a problem since it works pretty well for the game itself, but I just found myself using personas for their stat boosts and maybe support skills for the entirety of the game. But again, its not too much of a loss so I can't be too upset by it.
Overall, I like "Persona 5 Tactica" quite a lot for what it is. It gave me an excuse to dive back into my favorite series again and I love it for that. Almost everything clicks pretty well here, and I was pretty prepared to give it and eight out of ten by the end of the third kingdom. However, the final ten levels or so are just....not good. You have to fight every boss in the game again with little to no changes to them, and then you have to fight the final boss which I found to be nothing more than a chore. I might be my least favorite boss in a "Persona" game. These last few levels left such a bad taste in my mouth that I had no choice but to lower my score by a point. Its still a pretty strong game, and one you should certainly play if you love "Persona 5", but it has its fair share of issues, and I can't see people who aren't already "Persona 5" fans getting anything out of this.