Persona 5 Tactica review – stealing my heart once again
Persona 5 Tactica brings the Phantom Thieves back for another adventure, wrapped up in a solid Tactical RPG which smartly blends the main series with a new genre.
Persona 5 Tactica is takes the world, characters, and – most importantly – the style of Persona 5, and brings it over to the turn-based tactics genre. Taking place during the winter break following the events of Persona 5 (and seemingly ignoring the events of Persona 5 Royal ), Tactica opens with the Phantom Thieves being transported to yet another mysterious locale. Rather than Persona 5's Palaces, Persona 5 Tactica takes place in Kingdoms, with each being presided over with a horrific leader.
Soon after arriving in the first Kingdom the majority of your teammates are taken captive, leaving just Joker and Morgana. However, you soon run into Erina, the leader of a resistance in Lady Marie's Kingdom who teams up with the Phantom Thieves to liberate the people of this Kingdom.
So far, Erina is a solid addition to the cast, just like Sophia and Zenkichi from the previous spinoff Persona 5 Strikers were. The other major addition to the cast this time around is the politician Toshiro who fills some of that same 'authority figure who disapproves of the thieves methods but eventually comes around' role that Zenkichi did in Strikers. If you're expecting major character development for the returning Phantom Thieves however, you'll leave Persona 5 Tactica disappointed, they're merely here as a vehicle to drive what is really Erina and Toshiro's story forward.
All Out Attack
While Persona spinoffs tend to have solid stories that don't quite hit the highs of the mainline entries, the real star of Persona 5 Tactica is the gameplay. While adapting a turn-based RPG to a turn-based Tactics game seems like an easy task, Persona 5 Tactica manages to put a unique spin on the genre while keeping true to the mainline entries.
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Rather than taking the XCOM approach where you have a percentage change to land an attack, or a melee-focused style like in Fire Emblem; Persona 5 Tactica feels more like the Mario + Rabbids series. Full cover will completely block an attack and half cover will result in you taking some damage. However, the real Persona spin comes through with the use of the series staple One More, Follow Up, and All Out Attacks.
Once an enemy is out of cover you'll automatically hit a critical hit, which in turn triggers a One More – allowing you to take another turn as that character, and giving you the chance to perform a devastating Triple Threat (this games version of the All Out Attack). I absolutely love the introduction of these mechanics to the tactics genre. Smart use of these mechanics can allow you to chain moves and wipe out enemy forces in very little time.
The game also has a handful of boss encounters and optional side quests. Rather than being straight combat encounters, these instead feel like puzzles. Bosses rarely depend on "do enough damage to the boss" and instead require you to take control of the battlefield in unique ways (such as getting a boss to stop in a specific area so another character can drop a bell upon them).
Meanwhile side quests, feel like standalone puzzles – with a lot of them taking place over one turn – these task you in your knowledge of the likes of Follow Up, One More, and Triple Threat attacks to successfully take them on However, some of these feel like they're nigh-impossible without picking the correct mixture of characters, personas, and upgrades to tackle them, and end up feeling like they should be left for later in the story.
Persona 5 Tactica is another step up for Persona spinoffs, while it doesn't bring along the overworld exploration from Persona 5 Strikers, I'd say this is a plus it feels like the fat has been trimmed to create a smoother storyline. Plus you're able to check out optional dialogue between the party members between missions to flesh out some of the games story even more.
At the very least it's another way to hang out with the fantastic Persona 5 cast once again, which would be enough for some of us on its own. Plus, having the name Persona automatically puts it in contention for the best soundtrack of the year thanks to the incredible Atlus Sound Team. However, the smart ways the core series has been mixed in with this new genre is genuinely impressive, and has me wondering why Persona never tackled the Tactical RPG genre before now.
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