If it were necessary to name the best JRPGs that were published in the last generation, it is likely that the name of Persona 5 would appear in many of the lists, something that is not surprising because of the piece of masterpiece that Atlus was marked and that he returned to achieve with Persona 5 Royal, its most complete edition with new content.
Thanks to this installment, the saga gained new followers and also left fans wanting to live more adventures with the Phantom Thieves, hence the imminent launch of Persona 5 Strikers is so much awaited. Without going any further, last month we gave you our first impressions after playing a few hours, although this time we have thoroughly squeezed everything that the title will offer .
That is why this time we invite you to read our analysis to tell you why this new Persona should appear on your wish list, regardless of whether you are fans of the series or not.
A sequel on the same level as its predecessor
Surely one of the first questions that comes to mind is, do I need to have played Persona 5 first? And the answer is simple: it is not required . Naturally, those who have not done so are losing an outstanding JRPG and a title that hooks from beginning to end, in addition to serving to better understand the bases of this story, the relationship of the characters or where the Phantom Thieves come from.
These are details that of course will make those who have already passed the original game enjoy this second part even more. Even so, newcomers will love it equally because there are no details that are essential to know in order to advance in the plot. In this sense, it is so well narrated and the rhythm is so excellent that in the long run having played Persona 5 will be the least of it, so you can rest easy on that part.
Once this initial point has been clarified, the plot takes us a few months after the last events , when classes have ended and the group of young protagonists decides that it is time to take advantage of the summer to go on vacation together somewhere. Everything seems very beautiful and it seemed that their plans were going to go well until the moment when a new threat appears out of nowhere and begins to steal the wishes of the citizens, trapping them in turn in the Metaverse , more specifically in some new places. of the most sinister called Cárceles .
It could be said that these areas in question are the new version of the Palaces. Exactly what they do is transform the city districts into a kind of evil version , as happens for example with Shibuya, having to walk through its different streets and buildings, which at the same time presents us with scenarios with a most amazing verticality , because we will have to climb to the rooftops to jump from one to another to reach other destinations or to continue advancing through these dungeons in question.
On the plot we do not want to offer much more information because precisely one of the most important characteristics of the game is without a doubt its plot. You realize how well managed he is at all times when you come across sequences in which the characters still spend 30 minutes talking non-stop and it does not make you heavy at any time because of the dialogues they maintain, because of the way the that little by little more secrets are being unraveled or more information about these mysterious events is being made known.
In addition, the best of all is that each one has their own personalities so defined with which it is inevitable to love them. In fact, to curl the curl, we must be grateful that the game comes subtitled into Spanish , which gives us the opportunity to witness wonderful conversations with a formidable translation and many touches of humor to make them even more entertaining. So, you can also expect taunts between the protagonists, who give off great charisma at all times.
As for the dubbing, it is localized to English and Japanese , with the same voices. All the main conversations have been located, except for those more secondary, but these are not so common either, so the great work that has been behind their corresponding location is undeniable. A large part of them will take place in the different hiding places of the characters, which come to be their corresponding bases of operations, but there will also be times when it will be necessary to go from one place to another through the streets of the neighborhoods in which it takes place. the action at that time.
On the other hand, the adventure is tremendously long, so once again you are going to run into a huge pool of hours until you reach the end, but it is to be appreciated because at all times the game leaves you wanting more and wishing you did not. the end comes. And of course all this is accompanied on numerous occasions with animated sequences and others in which it seems that we are witnessing an anime series.
Did you like the action RPG?
Admittedly, the genre of Persona 5 Strikers has caused a bit of confusion, because there has been a lot of talk that it is a musou and the fact that Omega Force is behind its development does not help to think otherwise. However, nothing is further from the truth, because to say that this chapter of the series is only a musou is a serious mistake , although it shares part of the essence of this type of game.
The truth is that the turn-based combat of Persona 5 has been put aside here to bet on the more direct pure and hard action , with spectacular battles with a most frenetic pace. This is where you can come to think that it is a musou, because in these confrontations you will have to fight at the same time against groups of dozens of enemies . However, this is not like a Dynasty Warriors in which the armies of adversaries are out there walking everywhere and behaving like boxing figures.
Here the shadows will be walking quietly looking for us and once we come into contact with any of them is when a bunch of enemies will start to appear out of nowhere, but once we finish them all we will gain experience, money and even the odd object. That is why it is actually more of an RPG with a touch of musou , because in addition the enemies will not be with little girls at any time. What’s more, if you think that by hitting buttons like crazy you will win , we already warn you that in most cases this will not happen and you will even end up suffering the consequences.
This is where you notice that Persona 5 Strikers maintains most of the Persona 5 DNA, because the battles will retain a large part of their essence . In this sense, all our opponents will have their own resistances and weaknesses to different types, so even a fire attack takes away too much life, but an ice attack will hardly even notice it. Luckily, Futaba will constantly help us to know these important details, so it will not be worth choosing any group of Phantom Thieves (up to a maximum of four) because his thing is to carry a varied team and that they understand each other enough.
What it does take from the musou is their attack system with weaker and stronger blows that will have to be combined to perform different types of special movements to wreak havoc on opponents. In addition, the characters will have their own Personas (such as invocations) with which they will unleash a most devastating attack when an energy bar is filled enough, which in turn will be preceded by an impressive sequence that will hurt us even us from the beating that the enemies will take.
Going back to the mechanics of the elements, you have to think very well which are the best People to use , because in the battles against the most powerful bosses or the final bosses it will be vital to get out of the encounters with flying colors. We are not deceiving you if we have died against someone several times for not choosing the right group or not using the relevant skills. Above all, these bosses are the ones who will put us in more trouble and with whom we will not have to lose sight of their different patterns at any time to avoid attacks, because ignoring or belittling them can cause the lives of some of the characters to reach zero in one breath.
Nor do you think that the game is excessively complicated because of what has been mentioned so far. It simply poses a good constant challenge, despite the fact that the initial difficulty curve is somewhat high , mainly because of how overwhelming it is at first to learn all the mechanics and functions, especially if you have not played Persona 5. In any case, a Once you have fought enough battles (and they have made you bite the dust more than once) by inertia you end up learning all the formulas to win victory and the difficulty is relaxed a little more.
Likewise, it also helps that the characters will become more and more powerful based on leveling up, learning more combinations of attacks and that their respective People will get more abilities of different types. Of course, what is essential is to start the fighting ourselves , because in most cases the protagonists will unleash a combined attack with which sometimes it will be enough to kill everyone in a few seconds.
On the contrary, if it is the enemies who discover you, apart from setting off the Jail alarm and increasing their alert level , it is they who will stun you and there will even be times when a mini-boss will appear to complicate the situation things even more, putting you in serious trouble. That said, sometimes it’s better to take a few seconds off and think hard about when to attack than to go crazy. More than anything because the alert level will also cause the secret chests that are scattered everywhere to close tight and you can not open them in any way.
The size of the Prisons is enormous and you will spend hours locked in them until you complete them. The tasks to be carried out in them are practically the same always, but at least the scenarios and their enemies are different, which does not mean that new traps always appear to take into account along with numerous save points just in case we want to return to reality at some point to rest or acquire new objects and pieces of equipment. In this sense, it is important to note that, unlike in Persona 5, here the days will not pass no matter how many times you enter and leave the Prisons. They will only advance if history requires it.
Something that will not be missing in the dungeons are puzzles to solve, some parts of 2D platforms and terminals that Oracle will try to hack . At this time the enemies will not stop appearing everywhere, aiming to protect our partner in the meantime. It is precisely in this type of battle when the camera has played a trick on us , because in the most chaotic encounters it is more difficult to discern what exactly is happening between so many enemies, effects, blows, People launching their invocations, etc. in which the stages are not too big and the vision is even more obstructive. At least there are times when you can interact with the environment to blow cars through the air, start lamps so that they fall to the ground and much more.
Improving the bond of the protagonists
As you have seen, the fighting part has its complexity and depth with which time will fly by, but much of it will also be spent outside the Metaverse Prisons. In the cities there will be times of exploration to gather information about other individuals who will need to be investigated and countless stores to acquire objects that can be useful in times of trouble.
This is also where most of the conversations that we talked about previously will take place and where we will also take advantage of to forge the bond with the rest of the Phantom Thieves, something that we will also achieve by fighting with them. This will serve to increase the affinity level of the group and thus obtain skill points that will be used to exchange them for passive improvements .
Among them will be the possibility of increasing strength, magic, health points, in addition to other functions such as recovering life after successfully ambushing or winning a battle. As is usual in RPGs that have this mechanic, it will be the players themselves who will determine what is better to go up first based on the way each one plays.
Along with all this, something that we will also come across is Requests . These are orders that will come to us from time to time, including some of our colleagues, in which we will have to fulfill a series of particular objectives, such as eliminating certain enemies with a specific Person, delivering an order for articles or also to stand up to a final boss that we have previously defeated. In addition to receiving gifts, it will also serve to return to the Prisons that we have already overcome in case we had left an unopened chest in them.
And something that we will also find in the cities is the Velvet Room . This mysterious place returns with a different interface, although with the same function. Therefore, here we can merge the People that Joker gets to generate more powerful ones with new techniques and others that he has inherited in the transfer or also level up the People that we already have in exchange for leaving us a good amount of yen.
A whole party of lights and effects with a masterful performance
First of all, it should be noted that Persona 5 Strikers will be released on PS4 , Nintendo Switch, and PC . In our case, the version that we have analyzed has been that of the Sony console, although we have played on PS5 thanks to the backward compatibility it offers and the result could not have been more superb. At all times the image moves at 60 fps , regardless of the number of elements and characters on the screen at the time, something that is always appreciated in games of this type in which there is too much action and everything happens so fast.
As for the graphics, it is impossible to get any inconvenience because it has the same artistic section that already characterized the previous installment, with that fantastic animated touch and so attractive during the fighting. The animated sequences have completely conquered us and especially those who have played Persona 5 will feel at home at all times.
Regarding the soundtrack , a good number of songs are kept that already delighted our ears and with which we never tire of listening to them over and over again. Nor is it that they are exactly identical, because a good part of them are remixes , but they are still excellent melodies with which the magnificent work of the composers must be applauded.
If you’ve played Persona 5, you probably shouldn’t be too convinced to give Persona 5 Strikers a shot simply by putting yourself back into the shoes of the Phantom Thieves on this epic journey from start to finish . On the contrary, if you are new to the saga, you are going to discover a sensational action RPG with touches of musou with which the hours will fly by and you will have entertainment to give and take.
Although the initial difficulty curve or the immense number of concepts to take into account can frustrate more than one, with the passing of the hours everything becomes more bearable in order to fully enjoy the benefits and characteristics that make so special to this chapter of the saga . An adventure that has stolen our hearts and of which we would not mind at all if in the future some additional continuation was developed to remain trapped in this fascinating universe.
Persona 5 Strikers
| Platforms | PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5 (backward compatible and analyzed version) |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Not |
| Developer | Omega Force |
| Company | Atlus |
| Launch | February 23, 2021 |
| Price | 54.90 euros |
The best
- The graphic and sound section that made its predecessor so special.
- A formidable story at all times.
- Las Cárceles, their size and all the possibilities they offer.
- The combats are the best of this new installment while maintaining the essence of Persona 5.
Worst
- The initial difficulty curve is very high until you have played a few hours.
- The camera sometimes bothers a little to know what is happening.
