Still having a blast in the second half! I may or may not do a shorter follow-up video on Tactica once I'm done with the game haha Are you playing this game? How's it treating you? 🎮TWITCH: www.twitch.tv/ladyvirgilia 🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady twitter.com/VirgiliaLady 🌟PATREON: www.patreon.com/LadyVirgilia
It's great to see that this game is getting a lot of positive word-of-mouth from content creators after nearly no hype and a frosty initial reception. Just goes to show that if a game is good, people will notice. Fully agree on UI and music, though that's a given with P5-related games so far. Still, menus feeling this nice is always a plus, and "Got Your Tail" (the banger lyrical early map theme) is amazing, actually gives me major World Ends With You vibes. I'm liking Erina and Toshiro so far, my only real issue is Toshiro filling some of the same niches as Yoshida (an actually reasonable politician). But I do like how both this game and Strikers address some of the societal fallout from the collapse of Shido's conspiracy, with Strikers focusing on the police while Tactica focuses on politics. This is one of the great opportunities a sequel offers. I've recently thought about why the gameplay is so addicting, and I've boiled it down to this: getting to move a unit twice always feels SO GOOD in a tactics game (Dancers in Fire Emblem, Eagle's CO Power in Advance Wars, Valkyria Chronicles letting you activate a character multiple times by giving up moving others) and making it the reward for getting a One More is perfect. The Triple Threat is also really cool in how it works, and I love how the "quest" battles create small puzzles out of both mechanics. As for exploitable mechanics... I recently discovered that getting Yusuke Masukukaja as early as possible is... disgusting. The game so far hasn't been too difficult on Hard (I may even try Merciless). The thing is, it's still very FUN. Honestly, a game being easy only makes it boring if the mechanics aren't fun, and it's actually refreshing to have a strategy game that's not too difficult but still encourages smart thinking and creative use of everything the game offers you. Some of the more simplified Fire Emblem games let you throw nearly any unit into a horde of enemies and you'd just win. In Tactica, I come out of each map satisfied, even if they were easy, because planning and executing my moves still required thought. Side note: I got an ad for Nerf "epically insane blasters" when starting the vid, which is kinda hilarious given the gameplay's firearm emphasis.
Yeah! It truly is nice to see Tactica get a positive reception when it's been getting completely overshadowed by hype for next years' releases. The part of me that has the International Affairs/Poli Sci background will always have a soft spot for the Yoshida, and now Toshiro, in the P5-verse haha. That's a great point about Strikers and Tactica addressing different aspects of the Shido fallout btw. It gives me hope that Tactica won't be a "and everyone forgot!" ending like the Q games, and instead something more canon like Strikers! I feel the whole Masukukaja thing lol! Kinda broken that it can get picked up so quickly lol All great thoughts as always! Thanks for the detailed comment Klingy! Nerf ad lol.
@@LadyVirgilia the ending implies that no one has forgotten in the end. The problem with Strikers in terms of narrative canon timeline is due to development and release timings in Japan, being too close to one another. Technically the enhanced version becomes the new canon, overtaking the original, though the case of first follow up narratives not following the enhanced much did happen once in the first Arena. At the same time, Strikers did use Royal aspects, more specifically 3rd semester in terms of narrative direction, new character and Arcana pattern, plus the methods the researchers used to control the collective cognition. Based on some reliable leaks, Atlus already planned more stories to close the gap, but the current priority is promotion of Reload and Re; Fantazio. At the same time, P5 Phantom X mobile game was confirmed for Japan localization and servers based on SEGA's 2023 Q2 financial reports, estimated release around 2024. CN official forums celebrate Tactica release, with a special giveaway of Royal and Tactica shows that the spin offs are acknowledged by the mobile game. Phantom X might at least help in occupying the drought through updates, and potential new playable Phantom Idols and event stories from Royal, Strikers, Tactica and future P5 titles.
I skipped through my first playthrough. But now that i can use Kasumi and Akechi in the main game on new game plus i will turn up the difficulty and watch the cutscenes.
I love the art style so much. It looks just like Panty and Stocking to me. I've been waiting a bit to get it as I feel like I might be able to snag it on a Black Friday sale. But super excited to play. I'm just worried about burning out of Persona before Persona 3 Reload comes out in February.
I just got to the third Kingdom. I really wish I was as addicted. I certainly like it but I expected myself to want to play nonstop like I did with Royal and Strikers where it's what I dedicated any and all free time to. Toshiro and Erina are absolutely carrying this game though, I love them.
I’m personally in love with the team wide levelling and the fact that you can easily reset the skill tree before every battle. This way it incentivizes players to try things out instead of just sticking with the same option. I also like how there’s no weaknesses because I always found the down mechanic to be busted. Instead, I love how they put emphasis on crowd control As for sub-personas, I really like it. It’s not as op as you think because they can only have 2 slots and only 1 can be inherited. I understand that you might think having Bufu on Mona or something will make Yusuke useless but that’s where the skill tree comes in. Personally I used the subs for passives that will help the character either be stronger or survive longer and also for stats Lastly I love how Joker is not busted. I’m all for persona customization in the main games but I’m liking how Joker has a set skill tree and the sub personas putting him on the same level as his party members. I’ve played multiple maps without him cause I didn’t his skills and I kinda enjoyed it a lot
That last bit excites me personally because while I like Joker, the fact that you HAVE to use him (or any other protagonist) in most Persona games can make him steal the other characters' thunder. It's awesome to be able to send a team of characters out into battle and exclude Joker. For example, I loved playing as characters like Makoto and Sophia in Strikers, but Joker usually had better combo skills because of his flexibility on the team, so I ended up playing him the vast majority of the time, especially in Merciless. It turns what would otherwise be a fun team building game where every character is distinct and memorable into yet another solo act by Joker haha
It’s such a fun game! I’m on the 3rd arc and enjoying every minute of it. I’ve always enjoyed SRPGs and P5T is a great time. I also really love the art style it’s a nice change for the series
I was surprised by the story as it developed. The combat does step up a little past act 1 but it is more timed missions that force you to get more aggressive than defensive and becomes kind of a chess speed run. The 2 new characters are great. I do feel like the focus feel off of individuals and become more team focused in combat. This felt like it nerfed Joker and some others but I liked how it relied on syncing the team together to fight as a whole instead of having one person carry. There are still individuals (Mona and Panther) that can outshine others
Wish they made the party size bigger, cover mechanics more punishing, the persona skills being more impactful, melee attack being more useful, and mostly the all out attack don’t negate all the challenges. It is fun though.
I haven't gotten the game myself yet; I was sort of on the fence about it, but hearing that the gameplay loop is that good has convinced me to finally get it when I can! It does look like a lot of fun!
My favorite part so far is, surprisingly, the skill tree. I love the fact that upgrades aren't permeant, allowing you to truly customize your characters. Want to be OP? You can unlock Eiagon early to have a pretty much guaranteed 1-shot on enemies, at the cost of all your MP. Want to get status effects so others can get one mores? You can use weaker versions of the spells and let others do the heavy lifting. Sure some characters are built differently than others (*cough* Yusuke *cough* unlock Auto-Masuku ASAP *cough*) but I feel everyone's skill tree opens up so many possibilities for playstyles.
There is a mission in kingdom 2 that is a holdout but it isn't because the game encourages you to kill 8 or 9 shadows before the holdout is done. Its viable in merciless There are mission in kingdom that are long however but it is worth it regardless.
Later on there are survival missions that get you to use defensive options more Alternatively, some later enemies hit really hard(the big enemies become an actual threat later on) so Forget, freeze, shock and sweep become invaluable for it But I play on merciless so maybe they just scaled way harder for me XD
I only just started the 2nd arc but the main thing I love are the optional side quests since those maps end up being big puzzles. I'm only on normal but from the optional objectives almost always having a turn limit, it feels like it makes Fox way too OP cause of his starting party move range buff.
I bought it after hearing the opening theme. Haven’t found reason to be unhappy about the decision. It’s a fun game that (so far) is easy enough for newcomers or bad tactical players
About your thoughts on sub personas, I do think there's more to consider. Take your example of giving a persona with Bufu to Haru, that doesn't necessarily mean you'd have no more reason to use Yusuke. Yusuke has much better movement then Haru, and when comparing guns, Yusuke's is a single target with long range and Haru's is an aoe with shorter range. Not to mention everyone has their own unique voltage attack, so there's more to consider with each character then just what elemental attack they have.
Yeah those are all great points! I love Yusuke and Mona in the large maps for example. I think it's because I'm playing normal on this first go around (and only just finished the first arc), that I don't really see the benefits nor the cons of characters aside from the Persona's drawing mobs out of cover since there aren't a lot of interesting enemy placements/lineups yet. Not to mention there being not that many of them. The one more mechanic makes everything so busted it makes the shorter mvmt characters feel like they have more lol! Without punishing me back for using it since enemies don't hit that hard, nor can they really swamp me. I've felt like I could bring any character to any map and still achieve all the optional objectives with turns to spare. Because of all this I can see even a newer SRPG player not needing to consider other parts of the skillset if they chose lower difficulties since Normal is honestly easy so far lol... I assume Merciless has more enemies with more interesting AI and more health (for example, no enemy has even tried using the bombs against me yet and that's been disappointing). I hope there's more down the line, but regardless I'm considering a Merciless replay sometime next year. A part of me feels like I should've chosen a harder difficulty from the start since I'm not new to SRPGs, nor their harder difficulties, but I also need to get through story quickly for video purposes lol 😅 But yeah, definitely all good points! Lots of great things to consider when preparing party members for maps. And I'm still having a blast even if it's mostly just steamrolling through maps haha
Well, I would say that there are still incentives to use other characters even with the usage of Sub-Personas, namely their passives and bonuses. For example, Yusuke has an auto-masukukaja skill tree and a party Melee attack damage bonus. (He is cracked and should be in every comp)
I've been playing on hard and I'd guess I'm halfway into the kingdom arc. Honestly I still feel it's a little too easy and wish I'd switched to something like merciless. I picked hard cos I feel it's the todays "normal". Mentioning this to say I haven't had many uses for defensive skills either like Bufu, but it can be used to keep enemies from moving so you group other enemies with them next turn and such. Garu is also useful for high mobility characters blowing enemies closer to your allies cos they may happen to have worse mobility. It's also just a good way to reposition enemies for setting up other things, since position is king in this game. I haven't found defensive uses for it on hard so far but at least Garu is very useful for setting things up. Also on the point of sub-personas, I definitely felt what you said early on, but I feel overtime I've come to think the uniqueness of the characters still very much remain, if not, is made more apparent since you have to work around their waknesses your own way. Like Harus mobility is bad so thinking of what sub persona could fit her (I chose curse cos hitting it, inflicts despair, allowing for more squares to move around in) is pretty fun and makes you focus on what you value about her (or dislike).
Loved the story like a lot gameplay was fine but ngl there were like 3 or 4 missons that were slightly difficult and not even really difficult just took me more than one try to figure out what i needed to do to 3 star it everything else felt very easy literally ran through the entire game with haru erina and joker never switched unless literally forced to in some of the side quests
I picked it up.. Ir was a no brainer being not only an Atlus fan but also an Xcom & Valkyria Chronicles one too.. Jeez the backlog is getting really ridiculous
I'm watching along with an LP, and in the second arc (without too much spoilers), there's a point where the gang dresses up in disguises, and the game puts Ann in masculine clothing. Everyone else gets gender-matching clothing. I thought this was an odd choice, cuz to me, Makoto has more masculine traits, like way of speaking when mad, and propensity for violence, and stubbornness. I thought she'd be WAY better able to perform Japanese masculinity than Ann. (No shade, I stan Makoto, as a trans man, she is very inspirational XDDDD) Then I remembered that in Persona 5 Dancing, there was some DLC from the Yakuza series, and Ann got Majima's outfit! No shirt, even, with chest wrappings. So I wondered - and you're the best person I know to ask! - am I seeing a trend, or a coincidence? Specifically in P5 and the spin-offs. Were there other characters in Dancing or Q2 or Tactica that got gender-flipped clothing, or was it just Ann? And if so, is there a cultural reason for the developers to make that choice? And of course, they're spin-offs, not main-line, so there might just be looser creative control over some minor decisions, and that might be the end of it, and there's no deeper reason or reflection on Ann's character. Then, I got all up in my theory-brain about Ann's blonde hair and half-American-ness possibly being part of it. Like, since she CAN'T fit into Japanese female gender roles (the idea of Yamato Nadeshiko, am I spelling that right? The term you used for Yukiko-P4), did the Japanese developers think, "Sure, she can wear men's clothing! Japanese womanhood is in no way threatened by a blonde woman being outrageous, so we can get this past the censors!" Like, do they almost think of Ann as... non-binary??? Since she can't be a ""true"" (with many air quotes) Japanese Woman?? Like, she's a model, so, she can "model" Japanese clothes and even speak the language, but it's only skin deep, and she never 'belongs' in Japan?? Am I way overthinking that?? PS - I love your work, and the effort you put into properly crediting your sources - I just watched the Hbomberguy episode on plagiarism, and I thought of you as an example of how to do crediting and bibliographies RIGHT - and I wish you all the best! My own chronic pain condition is worsening as winter comes on, so I don't want to seem like I'm pressuring you, LadyV, specifically for an answer or anything like that. Anyone else can chime in, of course, but I'd like sources if you do! I don't believe ANY rando on the Internet, LadyV has EARNED my scholarly trust!
I haven't finished the first arc yet, but I disagree with the Sub-Persona idea a bit. Some of them are absolutely busted when used properly. I gave Haru one with "bonus damage to enemies in cover" and "bonus damage to groups of enemies" buffs and now she's gone full Adam Smasher on the Legionaries. Yusuke has Orpheus Picaro with Marakukaja and Media and he's basically invincible.
I want a Persona 5 game with the entire crew available from the start and involved in the story. Instead of Kasumi and Akechi being mid-late game characters...
Persona fusing feels a little tacked on, and i kinda wish they kept the elemental weaknesses from the mainline game(s) other than those nitpicks I LOVE the combat!
I haven't seen much of the game yet but story-wise I'm skeptical. No matter the IP I tend to always be wary of midquels (and even prequels for that matter) that had no foreshadowing whatsoever in the original work showing up after the fact.
