#When does persona 5 strikers come out

[meistertonki]

When does persona 5 strikers come out

#WHEN DOES PERSONA 5 STRIKERS COME OUT PC#

While its story is strongly reminiscent of Persona 5, it is clear from every angle that Strikers is out to do its own tricks and pull out its own unique trump cards.Īs to be expected with Persona spinoffs, unlike the mainline entries in the series, Strikers does not stick to turn-based strategy and hawk-like persistence over the events of an extensive though confined calendar. Its several twists and turns along the way are still as brilliant as ever, however, to expect something on par with that first story is simply impossible. While perhaps the villains are nowhere near as iconic or memorable as Persona 5’s original evildoers, the unexpected threats throughout Strikers are still welcome additions alongside the minor characters. The original cast members are all given standout moments over the course of Striker’s plot, but ultimately it is the new heroes who provide the heart and soul of the game’s overarching narrative. As the former takes on a position similar to Morgana’s initial purpose story-wise, the latter presents a narrative piece that multitasks being different from the other thieves yet a perfect fit. Sophia and inspector Zenkichi Hasegawa blend right into the cast with ease as each presents critical roles in kickstarting the ragtag team’s latest adventure. The comedy and relationships are on-point as ever as the wisecracking cast remains as lovable as before, but where the game’s character development and original ideas thrive most is with its newest players. For those looking for a full-on sequel to the story of Persona 5 that will further push each of the main character’s personalities and motives further, you should lower your expectations as the group here is already lifetime friends with evidently developed stories. The overarching narrative may come off as something more humorous and fun-driven as the story seems to initially lack depth when The Phantom Thieves begin city-hopping stopping tyrants, but rest assured there is a larger purpose to Persona 5 Strikers plot that will not let fans down. As their leader was sent back home and the crew faced their futures, one foiled summer vacation plan is able to unite the friend group once again for more metaverse infiltrating action. Without any spoilers, Persona 5 Strikers takes place the summer after the Phantom Thieves of Hearts saved their world from an impending catastrophe brewing at the center of Shibuya. From Shibuya to Osaka, the time to strike back at the heartless of Japan is nigh! It presents a comedic and heartfelt road trip that, like any other traveling adventure, is forced to carry some unwanted baggage to each destination but inevitably provides an entire camper of delight. While it may not be the direct follow-up fans would expect upon an initial examination, Persona 5 Strikers is as lookin’ cool as it is playing. If Persona 5 was able to change your mind (or perhaps more appropriately, your heart) on the current landscape of JRPG’s with its morally fascinating story and stylish visuals, then its action-driven followup may just do the same for the genre of role-playing Musou games as it dives headfirst into reinventing Dynasty Warrior’s famous shtick by summoning personas into the mix. Back and ready to steal your desires, Joker and the gang’s latest enchanting adventures across modern Japan in Persona 5 Strikers is nothing short of a great comeback for the law-breaking heroes of Atlus’s 2017 award-winning masterpiece.

#WHEN DOES PERSONA 5 STRIKERS COME OUT PC#

So, to help anyone new coming into Strikers, here are the Bond Skills we found to be the best investments.Developer: Atlus, Omega Force, P Studio | Publisher: Atlus, Sega | Genre: Action Role-Playing | Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC | Reviewed On: PlayStation 4Īfter saving the world, dancing in the stary night, and competing with Nintendo’s all-stars through one ultimate slam fest, the Phantom Thieves’ next calling card is certainly worthy of being read by more than just their biggest foes. And, after coming out on the other side of this game, we’re sure you all have Bond Skills you wished you maxed earlier. Updated Septemby Jacob Buchalter: Persona 5 Strikers has been out for quite some time now, but because the game is surprisingly long, it might’ve taken a lot of you up until this point to work your way through it and other games like it. The story in Strikers takes place six months after the events of Persona 5, and surprisingly answers a lot of the lingering questions fans had after the end of P5, but Strikers removes some mechanics from the main title, including Confidants. RELATED: Persona 5 Locations You Can Visit In The Real World The latest entry, Persona 5 Strikers, is a sequel-spinoff hybrid of Persona 5. Otherwise known as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, developer Atlus has released a total of 30 Persona games in the near three decades of its existence. The Persona franchise has remained a pillar in the RPG genre since 1996.

[phoenixcatch7]

I'd love to see a time travel/ng+ fic where all the phantom thieves plus the royal/strikers thieves PLUS all the confidants travel back to when the game starts. Everyone's utterly bewildered.

The core phantoms and kasumi, being already physically close, figure it out pretty quick and regroup, but the rest are left confused and floundering until joker gets there and starts reaching out. But with so many people and everyone so lost and upset, he starts delegating and introducing people to each other so they have more options to reach out in case of emergency and to solidify his own web of connections, and for the better efficiency collaboration brings.

And yes I want to see all the confidants become friends or at least co-conspirators in a grand scheme sharing knowing smiles. I want to see normal people struggling with the reality of having lost a year or two of their lives, the surge of hope or fear as they realise they get to do it all again, feeling confused and alone and with the other confidants and plenty of soul searching build up an eclectic support network with others who share the same goal. As a group they could be so much more, and so many would benefit from joker putting them in touch with each other.

But I mostly want to see people coming to the dawning realisation that the scope of joker's reach he's built up is absolutely insane.

Just about every single named character in this huge game is a tarot confidant. Outside of palace rulers, the (hilariously but sadly rare) acquaintances of friends, and occasional mission target, EVERYONE is a secret member of joker's web. He's got the wildest, 'how did you guys even meet' people in his pocket too.

He's got a sentient AI. He's got a politician. He's got a yakuza guy who sells fake weapons who once took out 50 gang members. He's got a secretly talking cat. He's got a high class lawyer. He's got an underground doctor with like 5 PhDs she got revoked who does human experimentation. He's got a government agent. He's got a fortune teller. He's got a guy running his website and managing public missions for no pay. He's got an up and coming teen model. He's got the second detective prince. He's got a world famous wanted hacker. He's got a ten year old. He's got the REACH baby.

It's so funny. He's got like literally 30 odd people with maxed bonds who all think they're one of very very few who know the secret of the phantom thieves and who would break literal laws for this kid. I just think if they all worked together they'd rule the world. And they'd have a huge support group.

Fortune teller: yeah so then I managed to escape the cult, but it's just been so hard to discover who I am outside of that, you know? And they still want me back, it terrifies me.

Reporter lady: *drunk* girl that's absolutely awful you deserve like sooooo much better listen if I see them sniffing around I'll let you know. You shouldn't have to deal with those guys alone, I know allllllllll about making those kinds of guys sweat.

/Ex yakuza fake gun seller: you remind me of my son. He's a good kid, you'd like him. I can set you up?

10yo gun arcade player: oooh do these have real mechanisms? They look so realistic!

Ex yakuza: joker said you could both do with someone your own age - PUT THAT DOWN-

/Shoji player and art kid (yusuke) from the same school: *sitting in silence doing their own thing during school break, having a fantastic time*

/Akechi: *having a breakdown*

Sae, having hustled him off to an empty room for privacy: you know I can't believe I ever bought your nice act. Anyway do you think I could make a case for getting custody of you?

Akechi, stunned out of his attack: ????? Your sister would murder me.

Sae: yeah but it'd annoy shido and my boss so bad.

Akechi:.... I'll consider it.

/sojiro: I admit it's nice to have an adult to talk to about this... Sometimes I still can't believe it's the kids I know that go out and change the world like this.

Government agent: YEAH even with my own persona it's an absolute Ride. You should be proud. Also your coffee is delicious.

/Government agents daughter and mishima: *having an absolute BLAST designing merch*

The list goes ON its just so many under utilised possible relationships!!! Post games the meta verse is gone and most problems are solved (or dead) but if we put them all together in joker's biggest melting pot it'd be such a ride. All of them just low key scared of how many high ranking connections he has.

Like he just texts someone 'hi I think I know someone you'd like to know. I'm sending them to meet you.' and you're like okay??? I guess we'll see why?? And you round the corner and there's a politician and a previously famous missing teen detective waiting for you and they're here to help you get a restraining order on your stalker if you help predict a lottery number or two. And it just keeps happening. Sometimes you're the 'I know a guy' sent to meet people. Like how does joker even know this many people???? He's just moved here!!

[pickles4nickles]

Pickles Played Persona 5 Tactica and Has Some Words

I finally finished Tactica and its DLC sans some challenge stuff and I do wanna do some cleanup, but I thought I'd write a review for it.

It's long (like, 3k words long) and there's spoilers and overall... it's an Okay(tm) game, but... here, just lemme talk about it a bunch:

Alright, I'm not gonna mince words.

Persona 5 Tactica is not a game I can reccomend to anyone.

But is it a bad game?

Well, no.

But I have no idea who it's for.

Maybe it's for people who want more of the P5 characters? Not exactly? Both stories' focal points are on new characters and the Phantom Thieves just kinda happen to be there. There are some nice interactions, but this isn't a story about the PTs like Strikers.

Is it for people who like tactics but aren't really into P5? Well... it might be the other way around, actually? It's an okay tactics game with persona elements, but both parts of that are watered down when compared to base game persona and other tactics games like XCOM.

With that being said, lemme just ramble about what I thought about the story and gameplay.

THE STORY

The best way I can sum up my feelings about Tactica are "the story was told well, but I'm not sure if I liked it." This is a game that's less about the Phantom Thieves and more about Toshiro and Erina and focuses around the internal conflict of rebellion versus self-preservation.

Toshiro is probably why I'm neutral towards the game At Best. Erina grew on me but Toshiro...

Ehh.

At the beginning of the game, he's a big wimp and he's constantly telling the PTs and Erina that they have to be careful. From a theming standpoint, Toshiro's behavior makes perfect sense.

But from the petty bitch inside of me, this is infuriating because not only do YOU know that this is the Phantom Thieves that have taken down Shido (and also Yaldaboth), but TOSHIRO knows it as well and he's being Like This.

Like, he kinda sucks in the beginning and does so for the first two acts, understandably, but by the third act, when The Big Persona Moments happen, my opinion of him just kinda stayed the same. They swayed in a different direction, but... still on the negative side of the spectrum.

The reveal of Erina as Toshiro's Persona... makes sense. She's Toshiro's spirit(?) of rebellion and is based off of his classmate that once inspired him to stand up for himself and others.

Did I like this revelation?

Hell no, I was punching my thigh and screaming in voice call "No fucking way, Toshiro's so lame, though" as loud as I could without upsetting my parents in the other rooms.

From this point on, Toshiro now has the resolve to do what's right, even if it's scary... but he comes off as a little too strong in my opinion. I kinda have the same feelings about Zenkichi once he gets his persona in Strikers. In the beginning they feel like a new character meant to balance out the insanity that is how the metaverse is, but once they get their persona, they're full on inundated in the anime stand battles and they're a little too extra about it.

Having two full acts of "hey guys maybe we shouldn't help the hat people out of hat people slavery," pivoting into "WITNESS OUR POWER AS ONE" has the same vibes as a relative who's not really an asshole, but one that you've been trying to convince for years that economic inflation is the reason why our generation can't live comfortably, and once they finally understand, they come off a little bit too strong and righteous about it that you're not sure they're genuine or if this is a "he's a little confused, but he's got the spirit" situation.

And then god happens.

In persona games, I usually don't fully understand how or why the god-being is doing all of this, but I especially can't wrap my head around how they work in Tactica. It's mostly because Toshiro's metaverse is kind of a Silent Hill kinda deal where it's a mental torture labyrinth for him personally, as opposed to Mementos, which is naturally the collective unconscious, connecting everyone's minds and hearts together.

The jump from "I'm going to bully this one guy in particular" to "now EVERYONE will be as lame as Toshiro" is lost on me. Maybe politics?

It's... it's fine, there's no reason to lose sleep over it.

The ending of the story is nice and reasonable, though. It sorta redeems Toshiro for me. It's one thing to yell in your own metaverse hellscape how you're going to do the right thing, but once he's back in the real world, he actually stands up to his dad and fiancé and steps down from his political position to build it back up from scratch, but better.

And, yeah! I respect that.

That being said, though, the game isn't devoid of new Phantom Thief interactions. There's some good ones like Futaba "I don't kinkshame" Sakura, casually bi Joker as seen in that one "who would you marry" bit, and a guys only sidequest in which they think they're looking for Toshiro's porn stash (yeah, I know) (it's not). I wouldn't say it's crumbs, but you're not getting the whole loaf that you'd get from, say, Mementos Mission or Strikers.

The story also does this thing where the Phantom Thieves can relate with Toshiro's issues, but something about it feels... off.

Toshiro's in an arranged marriage with Marie for political reasons! Just like Haru! His fiancé sees him as a pushover! Kinda like Makoto! His mom died when he was young and he blames himself for it! Wow, Yusuke and DEFINITELY Futaba can relate to that!! Eri, the real person that Erina is based on, had to transfer schools because she was accused of a crime! Gee, that SURE sounds familiar-

Part of me thinks I'm being a little too unfair on the game for creating parallels like this because Strikers also kinda did this. But in Strikers, the PTs being able to connect with the jail rulers was integral to the plot. Here, it's just kind of a wink wink nudge nudge kinda thing.

And my knee-jerk reaction to that is a small "I get it, shut uuuup."

Again, and overall because I think that rounds out what I have to say about the story, P5 Tactica's main story isn't bad. It's told well, but I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of it.

GAMEPLAY

I've only played Strikers and I don't think I've played a true tactics game, so I don't know how much weight my opinions hold.

So um.

I dunno, the gameplay was fine.

The pacing is weird because it's kind of a visual novel first, and a tactics game in-between, but I got used to that after a bit.

It's a really simple tactics game and... yeah things don't get too complex outside of sometimes there are buttons that'll open doors or raise and lower platforms, sometimes height matters, but the mechanics don't get too crazy outside of certain boss battles.

The game revolves around downing enemies to get Once More's so you can either encase the enemy in a triangle formed by your units to initiate an All-out Attack or you can chain together Once More's to extend your unit's range and move them across the map. This mechanic took a bit for me to understand fully, but I never really got tired of doing it.

Boss battles were kind of hit or miss in this game. The fights with Toshiro's Dad and Salmael I enjoyed as they were kinda formatted as "here's a weird stage, go figure out what to do." However, Marie and *checks notes* "the scary Eri Natsuhara that Shadow Toshiro made" I didn't care for as much since they changed the game from "your decisions on where to move your units are key for this" to "you need to do exactly as we say." Which always kinda sucks, y'know?

Character selection is also kind of a weird thing in this, too. It doesn't seem like it matters who you take with you into missions, which... feels weird to me considering past Persona games. The elements have all been kinda smooshed down into less of a weakness thing, but just a special move that can hinder movement, do damage over time, or change enemy placement entirely, but which type of special you bring along doesn't seem to be as crucial as other Persona games. Each character has a slightly different attack, gun spread, and movement limit, but it wasn't anything drastic that I noticed apart from Haru (she is very slow but apparently hits like a truck) and possibly Morgana (his attack was very weak for me, but I'm not sure if that's because I didn't have him kitted out properly or that's intended).

I played the game almost entirely with Joker and Ann, while swapping between Erina and Ryuji for the last slot and I didn't run into any problems.

The last stretch of the game is... a strange one gameplay wise. Toshiro becomes a party member except... he's Different(tm). He doesn't get a skill tree, is a permanent fourth party member, and can initiate All-Out Attacks, but isn't a part of the triangle that forms it. He does have a gun, but it's in the form of a 0SP attack that Ernesto/Erina can use... that also happens to ignore walls entirely. And he also gets Almighty attacks, which kinda just do big number damage for way more SP.

It's hard to say if the game did a good job scaling the level difficulties to incorporate a fourth party member as staying on top of your persona fusing, weapons, and the skill tree can kind of make the game a breeze. I also played on the normal difficulty, so maybe in harder difficulties, Toshiro becomes more of a necessity than a party member that breaks the game.

My only big gripe with the game is just... the weirdness of the undo button. I don't know how it is in regular tactics games, but the undo in this game doesn't work on a "clear the last action this unit did" basis, but on a turn basis. If you happen to screw up on turn one, unit one, you have to back out COMPLETELY to the mission start screen, which is hella annoying especially if you're playing on the Switch because of the load times.

"But Pickles, what about the DLC? Surely you have just as many thoughts about it?"

Y'know?

I actually don't.

I liked Repaint Your Heart a lot. Again, it's less a story about the Royal Trio and more about Guernica, but it's closer to the traditional Persona 5 story format where they're changing someone's heart. This story also had much higher emotional... fidelity? I guess you could put it?

Guernica needed to remember her main inspirations for creating art - being abandoned and homeless and her big sister dying because of it and she embraces that anger against society into art that inspires hope in people less fortunate. While being groomed into a political pawn from basically birth and then, later in life, being thrown into your own mental hellscape sucks, in terms of emotional weight, Toshiro's story feels like a feather compared to Guernica's.

Also her design is just cool and the paint aesthetic is definitely more my speed.

In terms of Royal Trio content, I think this was the best case scenario we could expect from Atlus.

Emphasis on "from Atlus."

Yeah, we didn't get Black Mask Akechi, but there are MORE THAN ENOUGH moments where he lets the facade slip. His default spell is Megidola, but his skill tree lets him have both Light AND Dark spells. He'll cuss at you if you hit an enemy into him. I don't know what he's doing viscerally screaming half the time he summons Robin Hood.

Sumi. Is also there.

She is fine.

Guernica's connection to the thieves is also written in the same way as Toshiro is, in that it's a little shoehorned in and doesn't add to the story beyond that. After finding out that Luca is Guernica's sister that died, Sumi definitely feels motivated and inspired to help her out, but Akechi also being an abandoned child, scorned by society, and angry at the world because of it is never touched upon. This is probably for spoiler reasons, but... still.

Because this is a story that takes place during Sae's Palace in the main game, they all have to have amnesia about it in the end. Which, understandable, and at least no one in the trio had extensive character development but...

*clenches fist*

Man,

Having tackled this after the main game, I enjoyed the gameplay a lot! It's basically P5 Tactica but with Splatoon mixed in. When a unit is on a tile painted the opposite color for them, they can be instantly knocked down and combo'd on, which adds a whole extra layer of complexity to the game. I wish there were a few more levels to play, but the length of the DLC never overstays its welcome.

Hokay.

If you made it this far, congrats! You reached the end. And my tl;dr section.

I think that's just about it on what I cohesively have to say about P5 Tactica. This isn't a terrible game by any means, but I don't know if the audience it's intended for actually exists. It has a just okay story and just okay mechanics, but the DLC has a more than okay story and the core mechanics are given a fresh coat of paint (yeah, boo, I know) that makes the game more interesting. I would not go paying $80 USD to experience the DLC alone, though.

Thank you for reading my review if you made it all the way to the end! P5 stuff (well, mostly Akeshu) has been my muse these past few years and playing a game that was "just okay but why did they..." got into my brain real bad, so I wanted to write some stuff out.

I'll close this out with some bullet points of thoughts that I couldn't really cohesively fit into my review:

I really really liked how they got little costumes for the old timey Japan kingdom and I was hoping we'd get more of that and every kingdom was based on a new theme... but we only got three kingdoms and the last one before "Smithy's Forge from Super Mario RPG" was............ School.

SATANAEL'S BACK IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS (BUT ONLY POST-GAME)

Erina also being Ernesto thing is mostly weird to me because she's still her own entity but also not???? The possible genderfluid connotations are cool though.

There's a quest where Haru asks Yusuke how to be fast. Yusuke tells her she has to "Become a Black Hole." I do not know what this means.

After the quest, Haru says that even though the axe slows her down, she's very partial to it as her father didn't like her chopping wood as a kid, but she'd sneak out and do it anyway. She later found out that her dad knew she was doing this, but decided not to scold her for it. She took this as a sign of kindness from her father and that's why the axe is so special to her. I do not know what this means as Haru's father was a horrible capitalist who basically tried to marry her off in pursuit of power.

The weapon designs in this game are generally kind of silly, but I appreciate that they exist in the game. There's a chompy gun with teeth that Joker gets and I really like it :)

God the Lyn tracks from the DLC FUCK

...what

Futaba says "sus" at one point in the end

[symphonic-scream]

I was left unattended there's a new au

Haru Sakura au for Persona 5

P5 au where Haru moves into LeBlanc's attic after she joins the team

Joker lives in the Sakura house by then, has his own room, and they've just been using the attic as a hideout

They go and get Haru and Mona back and. They all watch her sleep on the couch, and no one wants her to go back home.

"...you think Boss would let her stay here?"

"It's worth asking..."

So, Haru lives above Leblanc. She gets her stuff from her old house, so the attic has a bigger bed in it, a vanity, and they all build an Ikea dresser for some of her clothes

In this one she decides to take a gap year. A year spent, learning to love and to live. A year learning to be Big Sis Haru

Anyways.

Haru: I, I think I'm gay,

Akira: hey, hey it's okay, do you want a hug?

Sojiro: now, I'm not up to date with the world and stuff, but you love who you love, you can't choose that. Anyone that gives you hell? Just send them to me, and they'll never bother you again

Futaba: ...was it Makoto or Ann?

Sojiro: Futaba-!

Haru: Mako-chan, shes- gosh,, I could probably go on for hours,

Akira: I'll listen if you want. I'm sure Dad and 'Taba have other things to do

Sojiro: I can listen to anything else. Just, not love stuff. Don't wanna picture you kids getting older

Futaba: I have to bully kids on Roblox

Haru gets a room in the Sakura house too. Hers is, technically the attic again, but it's big. It was a surprise too, Sojiro paid Ryuji and Makoto and Akira to fix it up, make it liveable

Makoto goes away for the first semester. Kyoto, then back to Tokyo. She and Haru call and text, video call too. Haru praises her haircut, and smiles when she wishes Makoto luck with a date. Doesn't know why her chest feels heavy

Makoto's first day back is day one of strikers. Ann and Akira and Ryuji are going to pick her up from the airport, and Haru doesn't originally want to go, but. Makoto's last text before she loses service is just

"I can't wait to see you again, you don't even know how much I've missed you. Would it be too forward to ask for a hug?"

Haru leaps out of bed and down the stairs, and gets to the van just as they're about to leave

Ann: girl- you're in your PJs??

Akira: you said you didn't want to...

Haru: i- I want to be there! Please,

And she wrings her hands, waiting and listening to the others talk, and-

"Haru!"

Makoto is beaming, undercut and more unevenly cut hair. Wearing a flannel and some shorts, comfy clothes, but it still makes Haru forget to breathe

Makoto pauses, to ask for that hug, be a little cheeky, and Haru just. Crushes her. Sniffling slightly into her shoulder, mutters a soft "I missed you so much,,"

And they're friends. They're friends! Haru has to keep insisting this to her brother, and her sibling, and Ann-

Makoto sits close to her the entire time. Leans over to make jokes, and smiles at her with that, new, silly smile she's found

And. Makoto, at some point in Strikers, breaks the news that she's staying in Kyoto for the year. To finish her year. The program director likes her, it seems

Haru acts normal about it, but when she's alone later, Akira finds her and wraps an arm around his sister

Akira: it sucks, huh?

Haru, wiping her tears: it does,, but- this is good for her studying,,

And the others, they're talking to a more demure Makoto

Ann: got a girl in Kyoto?

Makoto: sort of? She, doesn't want to be exclusive. And, I'm thinking I might actually not like her as much as I'd thought

Ryuji: huh? For Real?

Makoto: ...there's someone else I'm now realizing I may be, in love with

Later on, it's like March now, the next school year is a month away, and

Haru: so, then Sojiro said-

Makoto: I'm coming back to Tokyo!

Haru: ...you are?

Makoto: I, I am. I'm going to Tokyo U for my second year. Is, does this make you, happy?

Haru: you silly girl, I'm ecstatic! But, is this what you want? What about your girlfriend?

Makoto: she broke up with me. I deserved it, it's. A long story. I'll tell it to you when I'm home?

Haru: yeah,, when you're home,,

The second airport reunion is much more emotional. Makoto sprints through a crowd, and swings Haru around, who's actually crying and just. They both missed each other so much

Makoto had a plan. She had it all worked out, but, in the moment, she just-

Makoto: I missed you so much, I love you, Haru, I-

Haru: *gay shut down as Makoto rambles a little, then springs up for a messy kiss*

So then they're dating. Haru starts her first year as Makoto does her second, and it's. They're both in much better places

Sojiro has to get used to his newest and oldest daughter coming down from her attic room in the morning with her girlfriend, who he knows already, but who gets so goddamn awkward around him now

Futaba snickers and teases as Makoto gets so red, and Akira winks and teases, and Haru gets pink and giggles back, and just. She's in a much better place in life

A gayer place

Makoto would have had a year of gay exploration and learning about herself in the background. She comes back to Tokyo knowing she's more butch, having a new style and absolutely sure she's head over heels for Haru

Haru's been growing her hair out. It's ponytail length, and she's just, more at ease with herself

Makoto spends her first night back in Tokyo at Sae's, but then, she meets Haru for a late lunch, and they go back to Haru's room, and, the giddy little make out, and the way they just. Talk stuff out while curled up in Haru's big bed

Makoto: I've had a crush on you since Beauty Thief

Haru: I, it took me a bit longer. Christmas Eve,

Makoto: I'm so glad I didn't stay in Kyoto any longer. Being apart from the others, from *you*, it was necessary for finding myself, but it was almost too much

Akira goes up to Haru's room the next day and finds the GFs playing Smash Bros or something

Haru, in Makoto's flannel and a soft skirt. And then Makoto, in a sports bra and butch boxers and just

Akira: oh. I didn't know Makoto, slept over

Makoto: we didn't-

Haru: she just slept over, 'Kira, take your horny brain elsewhere. What's up?

Akira: Dad and I are making hotpot for tonight, Ryuji and Yusuke are coming over, sleeping over in the living room. Do you two wanna join?

Haru: Mako-chan?

Makoto: I'm down. I- are we going to join the guys downstairs? Or-

Akira: ...you're staying over again?

Haru: mm! We'll hang out with them, but I'm still owed my solo Mako time

So yeah.

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Not that you're taking submissions for new characters or anything, but I just want to talk about another autistic anime (technically video game) girl. Spoilers for Persona 5 Strikers ahead.

Meet Kuon Ichinose! One of the first things she tells you about herself is that she's particularly good at noticing cats. If that's not an autistic hello I don't know what is. Anyway, she gets to know the Phantom Thieves and that they operate in a sorta alternate dimension formed from people's cognitions. She immediately basically goes, "okay, neat, can you give me computer stuff from there to study?" You know, rather than being surprised at the existence of such a thing.

Her special interest is programming, particularly AI. Turns out she's created two fully sentient living programs. The first of which she created essentially as a disability aid. She appears bright and cheerful all the time. Even when inappropriate. The reason for this is that she's actually masking. She has no idea how emotions or the human heart work, and believes she lacks these. She says that she's less like a human and more like a heartless doll. Still, her first sentient AI she created to learn about the human heart, hoping secretly that she might through this learn that she really does have a heart.

That AI she made (Sophia) comes to see her as a mother, and ends up helping her. At the end of the game the two of them set off together to learn more about people.

Basically she's an autistic tragic villain turned redeemed mom with a robot daughter (who's also autistic, btw) who helps save the world. I love her and her character arc so much.

You had me at 'good at noticing cats' but that last paragraph just sealed the deal. She sounds incredible,,, I love her 🥰🥰🥰

[batbeato]

so I started playing persona 5 tactica the other day. at the moment I'm finishing up the first kingdom (Marie). I thought I might share my thoughts. I promise I am having a blast playing tactica but I am also a little hater who latches onto what I don't like and must exposit about it for hours before I return to the fun parts.

With that said. I cannot stand Toshiro.

As far as design goes, he's pretty much forgettable. He looks like the standard politician/businessman. He could be in the background of an anime, in one of those scenes where the politicians are reacting to the main cast, and all of the politicians look the same.

As far as character, I have been slightly spoiled, I'm vaguely aware he goes apeshit at some point. However, how he generally acts is... boring. It feels like a recycled, worse version of Zenkichi (they have him being shocked about the Metaverse, they have him being less physically able than the Phantom Thieves) in some areas, but while Zenkichi's personality is compelling, Toshiro's is not.

Zenkichi, from the very beginning, is a character with divided loyalties. He makes himself interesting because he is an adult who believes in the Phantom Thieves' innocence when it comes to what's happening in Strikers, but he is also loyal to his boss. Over the course of the story, we learn more about his history, his struggles as a father, and his struggles with the corruption of the system.

Toshiro starts out as a man with amnesia as to why he's even relevant to the plot. The Phantom Thieves compare him to past corrupt politicians (Shido) that they've stopped, but they are also so willing to trust him and his strategies (which should be entirely unneeded, as Makoto is already the designated strategist of the group) that they appoint him as the bridge between the Rebel Corps and the Phantom Thieves.

Toshiro's gags are about how he's very skilled at negotiating and running away. They come off as flat and get on my nerves constantly.

Rather than a character that fits in well with the Phantom Thieves as a fellow outcast, he's a man with power for whom his easy inclusion in the group - which has had issues with politicians and authority from the beginning - seems ridiculous.

As his backstory with Marie was unveiled, I also found the connection made between him and Haru to be similarly ridiculous. Haru is a young woman, still in high school. She does not have the ability to tell her father 'no' due to her age and gender (as well as years of less than ideal parenting, I'm sure). However, Toshiro is an adult. In Japan, you must be at least 25 to be a member of the lower house (and 30 to be a member of the upper house). He is an adult, a man, and should have been more than capable of telling his father that he would prefer a different spouse for a financial backing.

Marie does seem to be very abusive, and I'm not discounting that, but from how the story is presented, it seems that Toshiro was aware of this from the start. He had the ability to say no. He did not exercise it. The story frames it as Toshiro being forced into an arranged marriage. He is a grown adult. It is infuriating.

Not to mention the fact that while Persona 5 had its first villain be a man abusing his power to torment male students and sexually abuse female students, now Persona 5 Strikers and Persona 5 Tactica have both had their first villains be a woman abusing her power to torment/abuse men. I sincerely wonder why this decision was made.

I'm sure Toshiro has more interesting qualities to offer to the story as I keep playing, but these initial attempts to endear him to me are awful, and I can't help but feel that, if they did want another adult character in the story, they could have reused characters from Persona 5 (Sojiro, Iwai, Yoshida) or even reused Zenkichi from Strikers. Toshiro, as a politician, is a member of the very system that the Phantom Thieves are often fighting against, as it is a system filled with corruption and abuse of power.

Anyway, besides Toshiro, every day I am haunted by the fact that Elle was localized as Erina for no reason except to make me suffer. The Persona localization team is... interesting, and often makes decisions I disagree with that wildly change the meaning of lines.

Otherwise, Elle is a serviceable character who's very fun, and has little charm points like her hilarious names for battle plans. I'm still very aware that she exists to be cute and sell the game, and to ship Joker with (for men who self insert as Joker), but she's cute. I also like that she's voiced by Mash's VA (since they both have purple hair, I think it's cute). I'm going to enjoy learning more about her as the game progresses (unlike Toshiro where I have already mentally checked out of any emotional investment and will need to be enticed back).

The gameplay is really fun. I'm playing on Normal and if I do a NG+, I'll probably play on Hard. The new artstyle also works for the game, since it's cuter but can still look serious when the mood calls for it. I like getting to see the main cast again, even if I already feel like Strikers is the more well-written spinoff.

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

goro akechi, crow

In the past several months I've read several books about crows and ravens and learned quite a bit about the mythology and symbolism of the crow in cultures around the world, as well as the behavior and understanding of crows in modern society, so I thought I'd share a few of the most notable parallels I found to Akechi's character.

This is a myth that I suspect a lot of people already know but was entirely new to me when I read about it. In short, there is a legend in England that when the ravens leave the Tower of London the British monarchy will fall. The British go so far as to clip the wings of the ravens that live in the Tower of London to keep this prophecy from coming true. I'm not sure if this parallel to Akechi was done purposefully, but nonetheless, it does call back to his story. Akechi is the Raven in Shido's Tower. When he left the tower by killing Shido's puppet and sacrificing himself for the Thieves, Shido's rule ended soon after as a direct consequence.

Crows are known in the modern day for representing death and destruction, but their portrayal in myth is far from so one-note. Crows are portrayed with reverence, and are just as often seen as positive figures as negative ones. They're often noble creatures that represent hope and rebellion just as much as they do death and chaos. They are very often tied to the sun, with the shine of their black feathers and rule during the day (often contrasted with owls of the night) used symbolically in myth to point out their dualistic nature. In Japanese mythology, the crow is a messenger of the goddess of the sun.

As an extension of the previous point, there are a lot of myths throughout the world that tell stories about how ravens were originally white, but were turned black for whatever reason--usually, as a curse or a punishment. There are so many variations of this myth, but one example is the tale of the raven and Apollo. Apollo, the Greek god associated with the sun, fell in love with the nymph Coronis, but Coronis was unfaithful to him. The white raven delivered this news to him, and in his anger, Apollo burned the raven's wings, turning it black.

Crows are often tricksters and rebels in myths. They're intelligent creatures that can fool even the gods.

Crows are often figures of fate, foretelling the deaths of others. Fate is a strong motif/theme of Persona 5, as Akira is running from his own fate of death throughout the story, and escapes it by opposing Yaldabaoth and rebelling against tyranny. Meanwhile, Akechi dies because he fails to escape his own fate set forth by Yaldabaoth. However, crows are often seen as above death, having near eternal lifespans or even being immortal altogether--perhaps a hint that Akechi may have survived after all.

Crows are the servants of Odin in Norse mythology, aiding him in the battlefield along with wolves. Odin is the ruler of the gods and eventually becomes the enemy of Loki when he brings Ragnarok, so in the context of Akechi's story, he may be seen as a parallel to Shido.

And, as additional reasons why Akechi should have been in Strikers, crows are known for working together with wolves, helping them find dead animals to eat and sharing in the spoils of their kills. (Zenkichi's code name is Wolf.) Also, Pandora is sometimes portrayed with a crow on her shoulder as a symbol of hope for the future. (Pandora is Sophia's true Persona.)

As for the science of crows, they are crafty and intelligent creatures, among the most intelligent of all animals other than humans, even surpassing apes in many areas. They're mischievous and known for being troublemakers. Crows mate for life and are known as being very sociable creatures. Even the lonesome raven will often have companions.

Who is stronger than hope? Death. Who is stronger than the will? Death. Stronger than love? Death. Stronger than life? Death.

But who is stronger than Death? Me, evidently. Pass, Crow.

-"Examination at the Womb-Door" by Ted Hughes

[daxieoclock]

Tactica Impressions Part 5, No Spoilers

I finished the DLC. It is stupidly good. Day 1 DLC is never not going to suck on the consumer end, and the fact this game costs like. 90 bucks to get the full experience? horseshit. that being said, if you could buy Repaint Your Heart on its own for 20 bucks, I'd say you owe it to yourself.

Minus a few bits of potentially upsetting content and the metatext of "everything here will be basically non-canonized by the end" (and issues of sound mixing endemic to the base game and Strikers), it is one of the strongest pieces of media Atlus has ever released, and does insane justice to two fan-favorite Thieves who have needed that since Royal. The fact that it's relegated to Day 1 DLC is a fucking travesty.

In one scene, Kasumi discusses her grief over losing her sister. Kasumi discusses her grief. For the first time since her character was introduced and then rectonned out of existence in Royal, Kasumi gets to articulate how she feels about losing her sister. It's the best take of the character I've ever seen outside of me and @lilyhoshikawa's assorted writings (but @superrabbittank still has the best written Sumire to date, no question).

Speaking of, I can and will be referencing both Erina and Guernica in Deja Vu at some future point. Maybe not main fic, but I need to write these two. Possibly at the same time. Cool girl rights.

Guernica is just generally one of the strongest written characters in a Persona game? Which is hilarious to say considering she only has a few hours of screen time, but she's a fantastic sympathetic foil to the Thieves, AND an imposing and threatening antagonist, with a fully realized arc. I know she's relegated to the same terminal one-game status as Sophia, Hikari and Zen, but I do hope we see more of her in the future SOMEHOW. At the very least, add her to P5X when that eventually comes out. Ditto with Erina.

...

Back to main campaign.

Haru of course is so wonderful to see, but Ryuji is genuinely charming in every interaction too. He's such a sweetheart, and his :D face makes me grin every time I see him. Sunshine boy real.

Toshiro had a cool moment. He still sucks. Despite this one thing, that I thought was cool, he still sucks.

Erina managing to walk off a legitimately life-threatening injury while Toshiro throws a fit over a graze. Not surprising, but g-d he's such a piss baby.

Ann smiling while she threatened Toshiro made me holler, I'm so fucking here for it. AND IT WAS ABOUT HIM LYING TOO, like, that's Ann's number one thing whenever I interpret her, and here canon is proving me right! We love to see it!

This picture of Futaba.

Haru (and Ann) Close Read Lines: 7

[the-iron-shoulder]

Playing Persona 5 Strikers without having played the first Persona 5 is pretty amusing just because the game assumes a little bit more familiarity with its lore than I actually have

I mean it’s fine, I can figure out enough, but like… I like how it never bothers to explain what a Persona is, or why the PCs have them but no one else does, or the significance of the fact that they’re all labeled with tarot stuff, or why it seems to be very important that the characters stay masked up but they very dramatically remove their masks when doing their super moves, or why the kitty can talk

and all of this is fine, they don’t have to be expected to start from zero because I think most people won’t have heard of Strikers unless they’ve played the original (I’m the exception, but I love a good Warriors-style game and I’m too impatient as an adult to enjoy the majority of jRPGs, so here we are), but nonetheless it’s kind of funny

also it’s funny that I recognize a significant amount of the music just because Persona 5 stuff is really popular among a lot of the VGM artists I like and therefore I’ve heard lots of covers of Last Surprise and Life Will Change and stuff like that, so I’m grooving to the familiar music (which I think has mostly been slightly remixed for Striker) despite not actually knowing the original original songs, just the numerous cover versions

anyway, fun stuff, definitely very different from Hyrule Warriors or Fire Emblem Warriors but still very clearly cut from the same cloth, and I’m in favor of that kind of thing

wish there was a 2P mode though, the true joy of Warriors games comes from 2P couch multiplayer

[akirawrites24]

Somebody you used to know

Fandom: Persona 5

Velvet Room AU

Akechi Goro x Kurusu Akira

I love this ship a little bit too much lmao. Know that this is an au where the events of Strikers JUST starts, where Akira gets in the Velvet Room again after half a year. He comes eye to eye with someone he believed to be gone forever.

————

Akira was happy that he finally got back together with his friends after 6 months, but he didn’t like it that the metaverse has become a problem once more. The Phantom Thieves were sure that the metaverse was erased when they defeated Yaldabaoth. There was something going on, but he didn’t know what.

“We should go to sleep, we are going to have a long day tomorrow. But wow, this place does bring back memories”, Akira’s cat, Morgana said.

For once in his life, Akira is happy that Morgana told him to go to sleep, there is too much going on in his life at this moment, he needed to sleep this through.

————

When Akira woke up, he found himself back into his prisoner attire, albeit without the shackles around his feet and wrists. So many questions are going on in his head right now.

‘Am I back in the Velvet Room? If so, where is Igor? Does he need my help again? And Caroline and Jus- no, it is Lavenza now isn’t it?’, he thought.

He remembered that he was forced to fuse the two together in their true being once more, to the person they were before they were forcibly split.

“Trickster, it has been a long while since the last time we have met. But there isn’t time to catch up, I have important matters to discuss with you”, a soft spoken voice said.

“Lavenza!”, Akira said, being happy to see another familiar face. At least he wasn’t alone in here.

Lavenza gave a soft smile.

“Another threat is going to cross your path, you have to be prepared for anything. I will be here if you need my help, albeit with my master this time. Though, I am not the only one that will help you”, Lavenza said.

“You mean that there is someone else here as well?”, Akira questioned, to which she could only nod to.

“Who is it?”, he asked. He didn’t see anyone, until Lavenza looked to her left.

“Hello there. Kurusu-san, wasn’t it? Lavenza told me a lot about the Trickster that saved the world”, an all too familiar voice said. There was absolutely no way…

“A-Akechi?…”, he mumbled. A boy appeared, wearing the Velvet Room attendant out.

“My apologies, but do the two of us know each other?”, Goro’s voice said. Akira didn’t notice that he was letting a tear fall down his cheeks.

He is alive! Goro Akechi is alive and well, he is right here! But…

“He was one of your teammates when you lost your memories. I was hoping that if you helped each other, you would regain them”, Lavenza said.

At this point, Akira is trying to hold his crying back all together. He wanted to hug him, and never let go. He wanted to tell him that everything is okay, and that he understood him. He wanted to tell him that he lo-

“Is that so? Well, I will be happy to work with you again, Akira-san. I hope that we can help each other in the near future”, Goro said.

However, Goro himself wasn’t all too sure about that. When he looked at Akira, this feeling of irritation and anger showed up. But at the same time, it gave him a warm and calm feeling as well, together with some sort of relief. He didn’t know what it was, and didn’t know what or why he had it.

“Y-yeah, I hope so as well”, Akira said as he wiped his tears that are now flowing out.

“It is time Trickster, there is a long day ahead for you”, Lavenza said to which Akira nodded.

————

Akira woke up, and didn’t hesitate to cry. The boy he had feelings for, the boy that sacrificed himself for the Phantom Thieves, is right there!

He felt a mix of happiness and sadness right now, he really thought that Goro was gone forever. But that isn’t the case.

“Akira? Why are you crying?”, the voice of Morgana said. Akira quickly wiped his tears away again. He didn’t want him to worry about him.

“Just had a nightmare, it’s nothing”, Akira said even though he knew that Morgana didn’t buy it. Morgana let it slide though.

Akira smiled to himself. Maybe, he can rebuild his relationship with Goro again, even if he wasn’t sure if he would betray him a second time.

It’s going to be worth it, all of it.

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

I'm still in my Persona 5 brainrot era, and I really like the Persona 5 openings, so I tried to find all of them:

Persona 5

Just FYI, I play(ed) Royal, so to me, this opening feels so flat? As in, where are the wacky colours? But it still has a really nice style and the more limited colour palette works well. The focus on black, white and red is neat. And of course the song is iconic. It was a bit confusing to see these characters do all these athletic/ice skating moves, since that has nothing to do with the game, but I assume it's all for the vibes. The main downside, in my eyes, is that there isn't enough focus on Makoto, Haru and Futaba. They are also mains!

Persona 5 Strikers

Totally not important, but my god, I love Haru's outfit. I am about to start this game. I really, really like that every Phantom Thief gets their own little moment to shine. Again, it uses the less saturated colouration of Persona 5, but that means that each Phantom Thief's signature colour pops out. And it's interesting that it sort of transitions from this more stylised video to the more cinematic one for the action. It feels like a best of both worlds kind of thing. I do think that Ren swiping up feels a bit out of place, but maybe there's a storyline reason for it.

Persona 5 Dancing In Starlight

This is just kind of weird, but I suppose that's the best way to call the Dancing spin-off, at least, as far as I know. I do like these outfits a lot. I might use them in my new playthrough of P5R. But yeah, the dancing is for some way even weirder than the ice skating. The song goes hard, though, because Persona 5 is very well-known for its jazz-infused soundtrack so it is neat to acknowledge it.

Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth (that includes P5 characters)

I mean, I know nothing about the other Persona games. I also wonder why this video is age restricted, especially since it has a very cartoon-y artstyle. I don't mind this artstyle, but I do prefer the more realistic style. Oh, wait, it's probably because of the shot of the Persona 3 protagonist shooting himself in the head. Even though it's cartoonish, there are strict rules about underage kids being shot at. Anyway, I think it's a bit wack that it implies that Ren is singing to you in the beginning. But man, the song GOES HARD. I found out that the other singers are the main vocalists of the other Persona games and it is just wonderful how it all comes together. Multiple voices sound wonderful. This is probably the best opening song.

Persona 5 Royal

Obviously I am very fond of this one, since this is the first one I saw. I do remember thinking it's a bit much for the eye. As in, the warning of flashing images was immediately applicable from the very start, but god, it looks so good though. And of course, it also has more room for Akechi and Sumi. The part of Sumi does hit differently after you've played the 3rd semester. A lot does, actually, like the Phantom Thieves destroying buildings can refer to them having to break the fake reality. The diamonds at the end also add something surrealistic, like the surrealistic reality. Fun fact, I love Makoto's outfit so much and during my entire playthrough I was basically wondering when I'd see the outfits from this opening. When I saw Futaba wearing that hat in the 3rd semester, I was like "FINALLY!"

Persona 5 Tactica

I suppose this game is really about its guns. All the characters are cutesty stylised cartoons, but the guns look detailed. Ha. I very much like these shots with the flags. Apart from that, I don't have a lot to say. The song slaps, as usual.

[honestlyboringperson]

Persona 3 x PMMM

An AU where the Madoka Magica cast are in the setting of persona three with the play style of Persona 5 Strikers because I say so. Includes Oriko Magica characters as well. Based on a Persona 4 AU of PMMM I saw but I cannot find it. If I do, the poster will be credited.

PERSONA USERS

Name: Madoka Kaname

Arcana: The Fool/The Star

Persona: Gretchen

The main character in this au. A second year in Gekkoukan High’s craft and gardening club, and avid SEES member. Although her persona Gretchen, starts out weak it soon gains all sorts of spells and attacks, making it quite strong by the end of the battle, but her starting moveset includes a lot of bless and healing moves. She uses a short bow in battle, and within the bow is a hidden blade. Her playstyle includes ranged attacks that can be charged with Bless Damage.

Name: Sayaka Miki

Arcana: The Justice

Persona: Oktavia

A childhood friend of Madoka and member of not only the baseball club, but also a hall monitor. Although she struggles in grades and academics, she specializes in her athletics, making her quite useful in Tartarus. Her persona, Oktavia specializes in Ice and Water Spells, with the inclusion of some healing abilities. Her play style has the fastest attack speed, allowing her to quickly dish out large amounts of damage without taking too long.

Name: Mami Tomoe

Arcana: The Empress

Persona: Candeloro

A third year of Gekkoukan High and Treasurer of the student council, as well as the leader of the SEES. She is the most experienced of all the SEES members, gaining her persona at her second year of middle school. Desires friends and companions. Her persona is Candeloro, who specializes in Gun, Debuff and Wind attacks. Her weapon is a musket like gun that can be aimed for more precise shots. Her play style is unique, as she can grapple around the battle field using a grappling hook. She can pull enemies closer to her, fling them around, amd grapple to high standing objects.

Name: Kyoko Sakura

Arcana: The Chariot

Persona: Ophelia

A dropout of Gekkoukan High and the second oldest member of SEES. Her family, or more specifically, her father was part of a cult who desires the Fall of Humanity as well as the coming of Nyx themselves. Has a large appetite. Her persona is Ophelia, who uses Fire, Earth, and Physical Attacks. She uses a spear in battle and does the most damage out of all SEES members. She can create small illusions to taunt her opponents into a certain area and attack the illusion.

Name: Homura Akemi

Arcana: Death/The Fool

Persona: Homulilly

A transfer student from Tokyo and antagonistic towards the SEES. She seems to have animosity towards The SEES, except Madoka, who Homura has a soft spot for, but will not refrain from using force against her. Her persona is Homulilly, Who specializes in Psychokinesis, Nuclear and Gun Attacks. When you fight against her, she utilizes heavy artillery and setting traps using her bombs. During the Answer, she becomes playable, with her using a bow and arrow and the capability of trap setting, using handmade pipe bombs.

Name: Nagisa Momoe

Arcana: The Magician

Persona: Charlotte

A shadow-human hybrid. Made to see if humans without the potential could possibly weaponize shadows. She is the result of said experiment, and the only successful surviving one at that. Yearns for unconditional love and loves cheese. The “clips” in her hair aren’t actually clips; they are a part of her. Her persona is Charlotte, who specializes in Debuff, Lightning, and Gun spells, and she uses dolls as weapons.

Name: Yuma Chitose

Arcana: The Strength

Persona: Pistis

A young girl who admires and looks up to Kyoko. Although abused in the past, she is mentally strong and can be unexpectedly mature for her age. She despises being alone or being useless so she is often doing chores around the dorm or clinging with Nagisa or Kyoko. Her persona is Pistis, who specializes in Navigation and supporting her allies in battle.

Name: Oriko Mikuni

Arcana: The High Priestess

Persona: Sotria

The former president of the student council and daughter of a politician, Oriko Mikuni seemed to live the dream, until her father was caught in a scandal. Everything crumbled as she was bullied off the place as student council president and rumours about her flew Rampant. Found meaning in bringing the Fall. Her persona is Sotria, who specializes in Bless and Buffing Moves, but also can analyze her opponents like Yuma and enchant objects to use as weapons. Her weapon is strange. It’s a crystal ball she enchanted.

Name: Kirika Kure

Arcana: The Devil

Persona: Latria

Oriko’s loyal servant. Once was timid and shy, but became the bold character she is through her wish of becoming someone worthy of Oriko. Although she is no stranger to violent attacks and mutilating her opponents, her mind is pure like a child’s, and she loves sweets. Her persona is Latria, who specializes in Curse and Physical spells. Her weapon is two claws shaped like sickles.

[p5x-theories]

Thoughts on Future Collaborations

Collaborations are a fact of life for mobile gacha games, so I began wondering how P5X would handle them.  My first thought was potential events for the releases of P5T and P3Re, but then I realized that P5X may not be out of development by then.  So here’s my guesses at what may logically come in the future:

Other P5 spin-offs, past and future: If they’re planning any more it would make the most financial sense to use P5X for cross-promotion.  This is also the place they’d most likely go for future party members, given that they’re already part of the brand.  But on the other hand, maybe being part of the brand would mean that any spin-off thieves wouldn’t be reserved for events, they’d just be part of later versions the game?

Non-5 Persona games: The new SEES costumes in Reload would make great stand-ins for metaverse outfits.  And if P5X is still around by the time Persona 6 comes out there will absolutely be a collaboration.

Going outside the Persona brand is where things start to get iffy.

Other ATLUS games: SMT would be the most likely option.  Catherine and Metaphor might happen too, given their shared development teams with Persona.

Other Perfect World games: It’s easy to organize collaborations when you don’t have to negotiate with some other company’s lawyers…

Other gacha games: Persona 5 has had collaborations in the past, so it will probably continue to do so when the P5 gacha game launches.

But what form these collaborations would take is another question.

First off, I don’t expect them to add any party members that can’t remain in the pool.  Party members in this game require enough resources in this game that creating a new unit that you stop making money off of after the event is over.  And they might not want characters from outside the P5 brand in the game at all, depending on what the licensing agreement says.

But you know what could work for limited events?  Stuff like weapons and skins, things that don’t require too many resources to create but still look cool enough that players will want them.

Sorry for sending you my rambling thoughts, but I have speculation on this game and no one to share it with except for your blog.  Also, the reason I always send in submissions instead of asks is because they no longer allow people without accounts to send asks.

No worries, you’re good! That’s what this blog is for- I actually made it both because I wished there was a blog collecting official P5X news (and fanart), and also because I wanted to post theories somewhere and see what other people thought, hehe.

I think you’re right that P5X probably won’t release before P3R, let alone P5T; honestly, I’d be kind of shocked if it did. I can see P5′s various spinoff thieves getting added eventually though, especially given the little traces of Strikers in the P5X data already! Not sure whether events or just added story makes more sense for them- you bring up a good point with that, and I could see them going either way, I think. Honestly, I could even imagine them doing both an event and (possibly later) added story for any future P5 spinoffs that may happen?

I could see at least outfits/alternate skins and weapons based on the other Persona games showing up in P5X, I agree. I’m also kind of expecting there will be some form of those Velvet Room challenge battles involving the P3 and P4 protagonists from Royal here in P5X as well, given that Izanagi’s in the data as both a battle icon and a 3D model... along with Asterius, so Shadow Labrys may be joining that...? Though I suppose they could just be added as extra Personas in the gacha, similar to how they’re DLC in P5R. Adding in the actual teams from other Persona games as playable characters does seem a little more iffy to me, though, just because I don’t know how protective Atlus is over them/how determined Atlus is to keep them separate outside of games specifically indicated as crossovers, like the PQ games and Arena. Obviously I’d love to have them, but I could imagine why Atlus might not let them, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Similarly, I wouldn’t be surprised by at the very least alternate skins/weapons referencing other SMT games, other Perfect World games, and maybe even other gacha games? That’s not that different from many of the DLC outfits in P5/P5R, so it feels like there’s enough of a precedent. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if P5 keeps having crossovers with other gacha games, too, hah? Not sure whether P5X will, to the extent of something like P5X characters appearing in other gacha games or vice versa, though... I feel like I don’t really know enough about that to speculate on it much.

Either way, though, I look forward to seeing how that all ends up going!

[discododging]

Unpopular Opinion Alert

Spoilers for Persona 5 Royal

A lot of Persona 5 fanfic I read has Joker become a politician in the future after the games conclude, which is fair. But me, personally, just don't see it. He's been screwed over by the system too much and even if it eventually got sorted out, I think he'd come out of it with just a general distaste for politics. Additionally, Persona 5 Strikers shows us that yes, his identity as the leader of the Phantom Thieves IS known and I don't think people, despite all the good they've done, would elect one into ANY governmental position.

No. What I think Joker (or Akira as I'll be calling him for the rest of this essay) becomes is a Counselor/Therapist.

Let me explain how and why

We first have to explain why he becomes a counselor, in the form of Takuto Maruki, the owner of the final Palace and the only Royal exclusive one, the former Counselor of Shujin Academy..

And a really shit one.

You might be asking: "Wait, what? I thought he was pretty good!" and if we're just using the scenes from before the Yaldaboth fight, you'd be right! Throughout the scenes we see of him interacting with the various members of our group, he's a pretty good one even with Yusuke/Futaba, two characters he wouldn't even know from the school. But that's where it ends.

Once we begin the Royal content, we meet Human Morgana. Ok, weird. We go out for the day, meet with friends, and holy fucking shit that is a dead woman sitting in LeBlanc.

Yes, let us talk about the elephant in the room: Wakaba Isshiki and Kunikazu Okumura. Two people who should be 6 feet under are currently just.. here. And then we see more weird and unusual things during our first venture into Makuki's Palace. With it all culminating in the reveal of the fact that he forced a poor girl into living as her dead sister for over half of the fucking year.

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Yeah, at the time he didn't know why he was able to do it, but he could CERTAINLY FUCKING TELL HE WAS THE REASON IT HAPPENED.

And now we get to why he's a shit councilor: forcing people to relive trauma. After we leave his Palace, we're given a week to talk to our friends and check on them. And almost every single one is happy, yes, but it's a false happiness that wouldn't last. It only takes all of 5 seconds for them to begin to realize their reality is false. It would've taken longer without Joker's help, but they 100% would've eventually realized they were living in a false reality.

Tragedy is an undeniable fact of life. It's as guaranteed as time and gravity. Just as the clock ticks forward and the apple falls down, bad things will happen. A good counselor would recognize this, and instead of vowing to make sure nothing bad ever happens, would vow to help people accept that bad things happen and be there for them as they go through it.

And that's when it struck me. Thats what Akira does.

In almost every confidant, he helps the people he meets get through the bad things in life. He helps Chihaya and Mishima gain their confidence. He helps Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Futaba, and Haru get through their issues. This pattern can be applied to every single confidant (sans Igor and Maruki, but both have their reasons)

And that's why I think he'd make a great counselor

[boypussydilf]

not strictly a question about akechi but i did realize about 2 days ago that persona 5 and persona 5 royal might be different video games with different stories. i thought p5r was just like, a remaster. woes of learning through osmosis and never googling a single thing about persona

WELL THE THING ABOUT THAT IS. IT IS BUT ALSO IT IS NOT. 85% of persona 5 royal is just. Remastered Persona 5. the same stuff but with a handful of like. gameplay changes and new scenes. but with the original ending Changed a little, in order to segue into 30 hours of New Story after the original end. it’s like. a remaster with a significantly shorter sequel tacked on. (Now Persona 5 Strikers, THAT’S an actual completely different game!)

going on a tangent now because this made me think of it. i have. such mixed feelings on how they did p5r. it’s like… why not just make the new story an actual sequel? but then, in concept at least, i LIKE sumi being someone you know and interact with throughout the year, i just wish she was better integrated, not to mention that royal’s third semester plot….. would be weird as fuck if you didn’t Know Maruki through the year? PLUS royal’s completely overhauled akechi confidant is. God. what were we even doing before the royal akechi confidant. It’s SO good and SO important and does a WAAAY better job of what they were trying to do with his character than the original game does. But like…….. the fact that they introduce this new stuff and then leave all of the original story Untouched just makes things. Very Weird sometimes. it feels natural for sumi to come along for shido’s palace but she can’t because The Existing Plot Doesn’t Allow It. also just dumb silly stuff like how funny it feels for the phantom thieves to make makoto their method of communication with akechi bc hes work acquaintances with her sister even in a timeline where. akira has his phone number. they have been hanging out. for months. Uhh anyway I guess I just wish royal had been allowed to fiddle around with the original story, rearrange and rewrite it a bit to make it more cohesive? P5R’s new content, like all of P5, just….. shows incredible amounts of promise, and gets, like, 92% of the way to being excellent, and then when you’re least expecting it trips and fumbles and just spills shit everywhere, absolute mess, complete failure, it’s gonna take us weeks to clean this up, what the hell.

Anyway yeah p5r is a remaster. And yeah it has a different story. It’s just that it’s like a quarter the length of the original story and added to the end of it <3

[legion1227]

Attack on Titan: PS4 game review

Attack On Titan is one of the best and most depressing series. 

Attack On Titan returns once again for a one-hour special during its final season less than a month from now. I figured now is a good time to talk about one of its games since we are rapidly approaching the end. 

I have a huge soft spot for AOT. The first season aired in 2013. It's been ten years since humanity received a grim reminder about living in fear of the titans. I was twelve when I watched the show and obsessed about it with fellow friends and middle schoolers. The first three seasons illicit heavy nostalgia for simpler times in my life. Despite breaking up the last season into three parts and dragging it out the past few years, the complexity and depth the latest season has wrought is nothing short of a spectacle. 

With season four bringing heartbreaking revelations, deaths of beloved characters, and jaw-dropping plot twists, I am simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the ending of this amazing anime. I am also nostalgic for the simplicities season 1 brought. Humanity versus Titans. So to play the first Attack On Titan video game was an intriguing look back on how far the cast has come. 

Season 4 of Attack On Titan has a complex web woven into the narrative, but the first season was rather simple for quite some time. Enormous, naked, ugly humanoid creatures are running around, eating people, and leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Humanity fights back however possible. 

The game, mundanely titled Attack On Titan, follows season one. If you've never watched the first season and wanted the experience without sitting down to view it, playing Attack on Titan might be the next best thing. Though I wouldn't recommend playing over watching. If you're a fan of AOT but have not played the game, it's at least worth a try. 

AOT, the game, was developed by Koei Tecmo and Omega Force: The same teams behind the Dynasty Warrior games, which is one of my favorite gaming series. However, what I love most about Dynasty Warriors and their other "Warrior" games (One Piece Pirate Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, Persona 5 Strikers, etc.) is the power fantasy. In those games, you have your selection of characters and some strong officers or bosses to fight. But a plethora of the enemies you fight in those games is canon fodder. Grunts throw themselves at you, and one combo later, you've defeated thirty enemies in seconds. Those games make you feel like a god amongst men as you slaughter hundreds or thousands of nobodies. 

AOT does the opposite of that. 

It makes sense. There's no way to get that power fantasy when you're a regular human going against giants. Instead of flashy combos, the combat revolves around hooking your maneuver gear onto the limbs of the titan speeding close and slashing at them from various angles. It adapts the show's combat rather perfectly. The novelty of it dissipated from me after the first ten hours, though. 

Maneuvering around the map with the mobility gear is the most satisfying aspect of the gameplay. The art of locking onto titans and attempting to slash their limbs or their weak spot, the nape, felt tedious after a while. You could make the same argument for most Koei Tecmo/Omega games. Playing dozens of levels straight of running around and beating up soldiers could be monotonous to those who crave variety. But the Dynasty Warrior games, among others, have a flash to them with colorful characters performing over-the-top special moves that endear me more than a game like this. 

The story mode follows the first season, and from the viewpoint of cutscenes, dialogue, and character work, it's a top-tier endeavor. They did a solid job adapting the source material. Gameplay-wise, it's nowhere near bad at all. It's good, even! Hooking yourself around the city has weight to it. It's fun to do. It's almost as satisfying as swinging around New York in Spider-Man on the PS4. If the game was just swinging around, I'd put 100 hours into it. But actually putting in the effort to swing at the right angle and sever multiple limbs just to get at the nape and kill it is taxing. I was willing to do it to get to the end of the story mode but not for expedition mode. 

Expedition mode is just a series of free levels where you can pick whatever character you want and complete whatever tasks are assigned. I played a handful of levels and then stopped, lacking the will to put any more time into the game. 

So here's what I think. This is a solid, well-crafted, good game. I'm glad I got to play it for a time. It got me somewhat hyped for the one-hour special coming soon. I enjoyed revisiting the story. Gameplay is fine but doesn't feel so exciting to play. I'd recommend it to an AOT fan if you haven't played. Maybe you'll like it way more than me. It's available on PS4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. 

I'd give it a 3.5/5. 

(Sidenote: You can play as a titan on some levels. It doesn't happen as often as it should but it's also like the hypest and best part of the game without a doubt.)