#Also Erina was really cool but it’s dissapointing she was just there to develop Toshiro

[strawberryjamsara]

I’m kinda dissapointed with the direction Tacticas main story went.

[strawberryjamsara]

Uh I guess I’ll put my final thoughts on tactica here.

Main Story

This had a lot of potential that I feel was missed. I liked Toshiro as a character, and seeing how the game was setting itself up to be his palace, and the consistent chiding from other characters about his crimes, I was really excited about the idea of the phantom thieves getting to know, relate to, and sympathize with someone they would have to steal the heart of and trying to figure out how with him. The game sort of took the opposite direction of that by having Toshiro do nothing wrong in his life though.

I was pretty excited when his shadow was revealed thinking ‘Wow, maybe they’ll pull a Persona 4 and he’ll have to accept the worst parts of himself to heal!’ But they took the lazy route of having his shadow just be a fake.

Erina also I feel was just reduced to being there to develop Toshiro. Don’t get me wrong, I love her, and Toshieri is extremely cute, but she’s pretty much just there to be a love interest. Both of these characters had so much potential that went wasted.

I think the thieves were mostly just their flanderized selves. They blended into the background but there was nothing too egregious. In particular, I’m glad there was no mention of the police from Makoto, and she gets to be the cool, slightly scary, and passionate senpai she was meant to be. I also like how they had Haru explain some sort of redeeming qualities her dad had, so we can see why she misses him a bit more. I still don’t like how the game lets him off the hook so much though. Let Haru realize her dad was a piece of shit 2023. And they sexualize Ann and have her be harrassed way less which is a god sent. In particular there seems to be an attempt of sorts to sand away some of the #problematic aspects of the original which is always welcome. The Ryuji wedding put a smile on my face.

Also Samael was just Yaldabaoth for a third time. It’s become comedic how many times the phantom thieves have killed/defeated Gods at this point.

One last thing: Toshiro deserved a phantom thief outfit. I’m very dissapointed they did not give that man a fruity little costume to wear.

DLC

So I maaaaaay be biased because I love Akechi and Sumire, but I liked this one way more.

Seeing these three actually get to have a full adventure together instead of the pittance we have in Royal, I felt like I was feasting like a king (no pun intended). Sumires idealism clashing with Akechi’s realism, and Akechi willing to go along if she gives him enough puppy dog eyes, her admiring his strength while he admires her kindness, is the perfect dynamic for them.

And it’s also nice seeing some softer moments from Akechi here. It’d be easy to argue that this is part of the mask, but you can really see in this game how despite his reservations, he really does come to feel for Luca and Guernica which makes sense considering his own roots match up with theirs. Honestly he probably sees a lot of himself in Guernica, as a person unable to change anything and filled with rage, driven to do horrible things by a manipulator… yeah that might hit a bit too close to home.

Sumire also feeling internalized guilt about Kasumi with Guernica and Lucas conflict is. Aaaaaugh… she’s so upset about how she and Kasumi grew apart, and she’s upset at Guernica for saying she doesn’t need her sister because she’s mad at HERSELF, but she doesn’t know it’s herself so she’s projecting it onto Guernica. Ooooh that’s so cool.

Also I liked having all the options to mess with Akechi during the story. All his thinly veiled anger moments were such a blessing.

Guernica and Luca were such good characters too. They were definitely a lot more simple in backstory than Toshiro but I think that’s for the best. Guernica has a cool design, a good backstory, and her helping out in the final boss and bonding with the PTs is a good way to endear us to her, and it’s even a little sweet how she counts Sumire and Akechi as the PTs who saved her. They aren’t ‘true’ phantom thieves, but they still helped make a persons life better, and for Akechi who wanted to be a hero, and Sumire who thought she’d never measure up to Kasumi, having them be able to save someone and make their life better is a heartwarming conclusion.

Also Jerri is just Samael again, but she gets points for being camp and slay.

Im a bit upset the trio gained collective amnesia after the story, but it makes sense that this had to happen for the sake of not having inconsistencies with Royals story. But also… CMAAAAAAAHN.

Gameplay and Graphics

I don’t usually like tactical games because I’m dumb as hell. I’m speaking as someone who really loves fire emblem awakening, I often do NOT play these games for the gameplay.

All that said, I had so much fun with the gameplay of this game. The way persona mechanics combine with a tactical rpg is so surprisingly fun. Trying to rack up ‘one more’s to travel across the board is so much fun, landing a big hit is extremely satisfying, it is SO MUCH FUN to walk up to an enemy and smack them out of their cover, and it’s so cool to land an all out attack on as many enemies as possible, it’s so much fun and I went out of my way to get every award and do every quest.

I also liked having every member of the party able to equip any persona. It helps with builds of characters, and from a story perspective it makes Joker less of a ‘special boy who’s the narratives favorite.’

I also LOVED the more steampunk aesthetic of the velvet room. The fusion animations were adorable, and if we’re moving onto art, this is the first time Lavenzas design really clicked for me. In the og artstyle I think Lavenzas design isn’t really memorable compared to Caroline and Justine, but she looks really cute here! The chibi artstyle is very cute and simple, but you can tell how much effort went into it from how the animated cutscenes with the models look just as good as the 2D animated scenes. That’s genuinely impressive and points to a lot of effort in the models!

So all in all, I think the game had a lot of missed potential but I’m glad I played it if just for the DLC.