Persona 5 Tactica is a tactical strategy role-playing game developed by P-Studio and published by Sega is different from previous Persona 5 titles like Dancing in Starlight and Strikers. This new entry to the Persona 5 series brings back fan-favorite characters (the Phantom Thieves) and brand-new foes and allies for players to work within a classic turn-based strategic system and playstyle. This is our review of Persona 5 Tactica.
Story
The story continues from Persona 5 the Phantom Thieves of Hearts (2016), while hanging out at Café LeBlanc, unexpectedly ending up in a different world that looks like Medieval Europe. This happens just before the older members of the team graduate from Shujin Academy. In this new world, they meet Erina, who leads a group fighting for freedom called the Rebel Corps. The Phantom Thieves decide to team up with Erina to overthrow the new enemies known as the Legionnaires and bring freedom to this world. Along the way, they try to figure out where this mysterious world came from.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Persona 5 Tactica revolves around the classic turn-based system in which players will get to control up to three characters in a party on a grid-based map. The maps are highly built upon the cover mechanics where both enemies and players have the advantage to move into full or partial cover to gain certain advantages in the fight. Moving the characters into a partial cover will give the advantage of partial resistance to an attack whereas, the full cover will completely resist an enemy attack, the same goes for the enemy perspective.
Tackling the cover resistance of enemies is one of the essential playstyles in every fight that players must consider doing. Using the Personas of the character allows them to deal extensive damage despite cover resistance or sweep them away from other allied enemies. Apart from using the skills, players can use the Melee attack to strike an enemy away from other enemies to expose them out in the open for other characters to attack them. Allied players can attack the exposed enemy with a ranged or melee attack depending upon their position. However, attacking an exposed enemy will always land a critical hit resulting in a downed enemy which will grant a ‘One More’ turn to the character who attacked.
With the One More turn gained, the character will have the advantage to attack once again on any character while positioning anywhere on the possible grids available. This new One More attack mechanic is essential throughout the many fights in the game as it will allow players to both take out the enemy units quickly as well as complete certain objectives regarding defeating enemies in fewer turns. The Hideout quests are the perfect example for completing the stages in the required turns. These quests test the strategies of players to their full potential as each quest will require to eliminate enemies in 1 – 2 turns or complete the objective in 1 – 2 turns. Players will have to build the whole battle strategy around the number of turns to both complete the quest and gain rewards.
Another essential attacking mechanic in Persona 5 Tactica is a Triple Threat which is well known for All-Out Attack. Players can gain the Triple threat attack advantage in every battle by positioning the characters in a triangle formation while downing an enemy. When the players down an enemy with a critical hit, they can move the characters in a triangle formation to initialize the attack. Initiating the Triple Threat attack will allow all the characters to deal extensive damage to every enemy in the area of that triangle. Pursuing this attack in various fights will often defeat enemies in a single turn allowing you to move ahead without even sweating.
Apart from the fighting mechanics, the Hideout of the characters is Café LeBlanc where players will get to strategize the selection of the characters for the next mission, purchase new weapons for the characters, select personas for the characters, upgrade the skills of the characters, and view the services in the Velvet Room. Upgrading the skills of the characters will allow players to experiment with characters with various builds. The skills of every character are built around their main skill and passive skills that players can unlock, upgrade and respec. Players have the freedom to respec the skills they recently purchased with Growth Points and invest in a new skill to test the potential of the characters either in a new mission or previous mission.
The Velvet Room is back in Persona 5 Tactica but with a new look. It is run by Lavenza offering you to fuse new personas using the old personas, forge new weapons, disassemble old weapons in return for money, and much more. Visiting the Velvet Room every now and then can be helpful for players to fuse new powerful personas for all of the characters.
Sound and Visuals
The visuals of Persona 5 Tactica are pure classic and anybody who has ever played an Atlus game before will agree and understand. Portraits of the enemies and characters, map designs, sound design, voice acting, and pre-rendered animations are all top-notch which greatly enhances the overall experience of the game.
Verdict – Score 9/10
Persona 5 Tactica is an in-depth narrative strategic role-playing game that delivers every aspect of the game to its absolute best. The dialogues among the characters are worth listening to and reading to get more lore of the story and anybody who loves great music with cool action sequences during fighting will enjoy their time on this game.
Persona 5 Tactica is now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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