Persona 5 Strikers Discussion Thread

This game is rad! Though I'm bummed it doesn't technically continue the story of Royal, so therefore no Yoshizawa, I'm having an amazing time with it. I'm really surprised just how much Persona is packed in here. Just about all of P5's combat mechanics are included, only this time everything is real time rather than turn based. The new Hyrule Warriors was my first musou game so this type of combat is still pretty fresh to me, although Strikers feels remarkably different than Age of Calamity. How's everyone else feeling about it?

I’m in a weird spot with it because it’s a pretty rad game and flows really naturally from Persona 5 proper, they really did a great job there.

But I came to the table thinking I was gonna play a P5 musou and it isn’t that game whatsoever.

Yeah, as someone that never thought I was ever be interested in a musou, I'm in the opposite boat. The fact this is basically Persona 5-2 in practically every way other than combat is the reason I'm enjoying it. As much as I love Zelda, the Hyrule Warriors games never really interested me because the musou format is just not appealing to me.

I'm super impressed how much Persona is in this game. Other than the daily life stuff not really being here, it feels just like more Persona 5.

I haven't played this yet, but it looks like it draws quite a bit from the PS2 Devil Summoner games. Those were a bit more in the Tales style, but I do see a line that can be drawn to here. Also, Raidou Kuzunoha was a fun protagonist, and I loved the setting.

I'm playing it on a switch lite and really enjoying it. The gameplay has enough pauses between encounters that I havent gotten tired of the musou gameplay and the persona style story telling is implemented well enough that even if I didn't like the gameplay I'd be able to carry myself onward with just the story to satisfy me.

Watching the quick look for it you can clearly see a huge graphical difference between the ps4 and switch versions. Also there have been a small number of long load times. Haven't tried it docked to see how it looks but im sure its acceptable.

Playing on the switch makes me think they could do a proper persona 5 port if they wanted to. The load times aren't unbearable and i haven't noticed any huge frame rate drops or hitches which even if there they wouldn't be a deal breaker for a turn based game anyways.

@trh5001: There is a PS3 version of Persona 5 that is totally fine, that was the lead platform initially. There is absolutely zero technical reason they couldn't do it on Switch.

Yeah, at this point I just think the ship has sailed on them actually doing one as much as I would like them to. That being said who knows I mean they did bring SMT3 after all.

I think there's still a decent chance. With the way Atlus/Sega has been putting more stuff on PC lately, I fully expect Persona 3 and 5 to get a PC release at some time soon. If Strikers does well on Switch, I could see them porting Persona 5 Royal to Switch during the port to PC process.

It's been extremely fun getting to see more of the P5 gang so I'm really enjoying it. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much of a linear structure this has, rather than the general mission-based '3 star objectives' structure of what I think of as musou games, though granted I haven't played one since One Piece 3 so this might not be a new change.

It's notable also how little the combat feels like a musou game too, definitely feels like the game is asking you to strike a balance between your normal attacks and pausing to cast spells through menus which is pretty interesting, will wait and see if it continues to hold up over bigger boss fights.

My biggest gripe so far is that the checkpoints don't just recover your health when you touch them. Having the only deterrent to full party recovery be sitting through some loading screens is inane, really wish they'd just expedite the process.

@ll_exile_ll: As per the Atlus playbook I fully expect them to proudly announce Persona 5 coming to Switch and PC at the tail end of the PS5 generation and probably a year after Persona 6 ships.

@imhungry: I’ve been surprised by just how Persona the combat is. I was expecting a big map full of enemies to fight, but instead it’s the singular shadows roaming around that you can ambush, triggering a larger battle. It’s pretty cool!

My only issue with the game so far has been the camera, since I often lose sight of who I’m fighting. I’ve also had a hard time keeping track of the skills enemies are using, and how my party is being affected/damaged. Maybe I just need to pause more and analyze the field.

I've had some issues with the camera as well. I have tried to use the lock on and that has helped a little bit but yeah that could definitely be better.

@trh5001: I get tangled up trying to use the lock on because I'll target an enemy, and then instinctively use right stick to fix the camera, which changes the lock on target...

@nateandrews: Yeah, its not a great situation. I find myself bringing up the persona menu and manually rotating the camera since combat pauses when its up but scrolling around the field with that up takes awhile as well.

The recurring bit of Haru very politely telling the inspector “Fuck the police, actually” is giving me tremendous energy.

Haru has been quietly very funny in this so far and it’s nice to see that character be literally anything at all.

Does it make any sense to play P5 Strikers before P5? I've been waiting to play P5R until I get a PS5 and I don't have a PS4/3. How spoiled would I be? Alternatively, I'm considering waiting on the hope of a P5R port to switch/PC...

Any bugs on PC? I want it but I have so many games I'm playing at the moment. I could get it 25% off on CDkeys, or wait to get 25% off on Steam and some patches.

@wundabar: It has a pretty big spoiler from the jump that personally still wouldn’t bother me but more importantly this is direct from P5 it assumes you know all of these people and what they do and have done. So I don’t know if there’s a lot of appeal just starting here.

It is a direct story continuation. They tutorialize mechanics and stuff that players of Persona 5 would already understand, but they don't really make any effort to bring new players up to speed narratively. They expect you to know these characters and the events that happened previously.

Aside from the fact the you will be pretty lost in terms of story, I don't think there's much value here for a new player. The core appeal of this game, at least for myself, is that it's a continuation of the story of Persona 5. I don't think it's worth much for players that haven't finished Persona 5.

@alistercat: Load times are weirdly long for me, and I have it on an SSD. Also had an issue where my wired controller disconnected and the game just wouldn’t take any inputs after reconnection, so I had to force close and relaunch. Nothing else has cropped up so far.

@efesell: @ll_exile_ll: I appreciate your input; I'll hold off on this and hope for a P5R switch/PC port. Or maybe I'll actually get a PS5 sometime before then xD

I just want to relive the magic that was the P4 endurance run!

I played "Age of Calamity" and got a surprising amount out of it. It's a LOT more than just "Dynasty Warriors with a BotW coat of paint," especially in the absolutely mind-blowingly heartfelt storyline that, not gonna lie, I found myself connecting with far, far, FAR more than BotW's story. Or at least with the characters.

This game has been very similar, although my muscle memory of Age of Calamity is making the battles way more hectic than they probably should be ,but so far: the continuation of the story feels pitch-perfect. Everyone's a few years older, but haven't fundamentally changed and I'm hoping there are SOME social/relationship building systems that I haven't yet uncovered, but I won't be terribly disappointed if there aren't.

The most shocking thing is: I can remember when games like this DID feel like a cheap cash-in, especially with the Musou system, and these two games feel like anything but. They feel less like a fan-fic-y continuation and way more like actual, proper sequels.

The camera and chaos of a battle definitely becomes a problem when you're trying to react to a bunch of different enemies, all of whom have different targeting fields, different weaknesses, and are deploying different attacks, but I DO love the tag-in ability to get some distance and reorient.

@undeadpool: Atlus has also established a weird history of continuing Persona storylines in different genres, like they did with Persona 4 Arena. I'm kinda into it, though I never did play that fighting game.

@alistercat: Just ran into an infinite loading screen on a routine load into a dungeon, fixed by a quick reboot. That being said I've definitely run into similar stuff in other Omega Force titles so who knows if it'll get fixed. Just have to remember to save often I guess, thankfully you can save before most loads.

It was REALLY great for the time, especially as a continuation of the characters, but its story mode is just "walls of spoken text->fight->wall of spoken text->fight."

The actual fighting game behind it was/is REALLY excellent, though, so it was hard to be disappointed.

I still haven't checked out the dancing games either, but I've heard good things.

This seems like the biggest attempt at that, and so far the most effective by far.