#persona 5 tactica is not great

[0heartangel0]

PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: A VERY ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

Pt. 3: This Is Not My Jam

Originally, I was gonna talk about the gameplay next, but I realized that in order for my argument of it to make sense, be accurate and fair, I'm currently stuck in a rather long bit of "research", so to speak. So, for the time being, I'll move on to my next complaint that doesn't require extensive comparisons, which I hope to be short and sweet: The music!

....it's very forgettable-

OKAY! Like I said from the beginning: I'm not here to judge people's tastes! If you enjoyed the music, that's great! Flippin', blast that crap while doing a power study at 3am all you want, I ain't stopping you (except for your neighbors likely filing noise complaints).

But, for me personally, they just didn't click with me.

As of me writing this, I had JUST listened to the full version of the opening theme ('Revolution In Your Heart'), and have immediately forgotten most of how it goes. Not to be harsh, but it sounds like someone trying to write what they think a Persona 5 song sounds like. It just doesn't have the *oomph* factor that would classify it as a Persona 5 song to me.

It doesn't have the high energy of 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There'.

It doesn't have the excitement of 'Colors Flying High'.

It doesn't have the motivational feeling of 'You Are Stronger'.

Unlike those openers, Tactica's opening theme doesn't give me that feeling - the feeling of wanting to move, and not just in dance. It doesn't get me hyped to play a game, where I'm overthrowing tyrants for the sake of

And the same is sadly true for the rest of the soundtrack.

(Update: Listening to Revolution In Your Heart again made me realize that in comparison to the other openings, Lyn here is getting drowned out by the music. The other openings leave her crisp and distinguishable from the instrumental. I haven't touched it, yet, but the mixing in this game is not very good....)

I'm glad almost everything is original music, apart from this one rendition of 'Beneath The Mask' at the very beginning of the game, as well as - of course - the Velvet Room theme. However, once again, almost none I remember too well and don't sound like Persona 5 songs. And yeah, I know that sounds contradictory to what I just said about liking that we're doing original music, but what I meant by it was that they don't sound like songs that would *come* from a Persona 5 game. It's just....eh.

What makes it most astonishing about all of this, mainly in regards to the battle music, is that unlike P5 or P5S, you'll be listening to these songs for about 5-10 minutes per level due to the nature of Tactica being a tactical rpg, so battles would run longer. And yet, despite P5's and P5S' battles running shorter (as a turn-based rpg and Musuo-styled rpg respectively), I still remember 'Last Surprise', 'Take Over', 'Axe To Grind', and 'What You Wish For'. Once again, I think it comes back to those songs having more energy and oomph in them by comparison.

You could try to make the argument that they probably wouldn't try as hard with the soundtrack due to it being a spinoff game, and to that, I say that that's a bad faith take to make, because A) that's a harsh assumption on the song writers for this game's soundtrack, as much as I dislike it. Looking it up, there's over a hundred tracks for this game, so they'd be obviously busting their butts on this soundtrack. It's just disappointing to me that I myself didn't find it worthwhile to listen to, personally. Besides, I already know there are people out there who disagree with me on this, so on that front, the songwriters succeeded.

And B) have you not listened to a single track from *any* Persona spinoff?

I already talked about some of Striker’s songs, both PQ and PQ2 have bangers in there, especially since they're balancing the song styles from all three modern Persona games due to the nature of them being crossovers, and Arena created themes for every fighter there, and they all fit them and *slap*! I don't include the Dancing games, since they're already based solely around the music, and most are just renditions or remixes of already existing songs.

(God, I just reminded myself of that terrible remix of 'Mass Destruction' they did in 'Dancing Moon Night', and now I have to apologize to the Tactica soundtrack, because its only crime is being just forgettable, unlike....that thing.)

There's only ONE song I remember, albeit, rather repetitive. It's called 'Abyss Of Despair', and it plays when you fight the Eri monster thing. However, there's only *one* reason I remember it: it reminds me SO much of 'Memory' from Undertale.

It's probably just me, but I just wanted to point it out.

But...I don't get it? Apart from the energy, I feel like there's this other "thing" that's missing in these songs. I've been trying to wrack my brain to come up with the explanation. What is the secret ingredient that makes a Persona 5 song *feel* like a Persona 5 song?

So, I've been listening to some tracks from P5, P5R, and P5S to maybe find that secret sauce. And after listening to the openings of all three back-to-back...it hit me.

It's.....

THE VIOLIN!!!

Think about it! A vast majority of P5 tracks have the violin as a major component in it. There are a few exceptions, mainly the palace and jail themes, but I let those pass because they're supposed to represent the rulers of those places, so they themselves would be given specific instruments ('Price's' zurna, my beloved). To me, I feel the Phantom Thieves themselves are represented by the violins in the music, which is why you mainly hear it in their battle tracks and infiltration themes.

You immediately hear it in 'Last Surprise:'

You hear it in 'Life Will Change' about 45 seconds in:

You can hear it in 'Daredevil' a few seconds in:

Hell, I got curious and looked at 'Counter Strike' to see if they had it (for I only recall the electric guitar), only to immediately be hit with that violin:

And going back to the beginning of this post, you can hear it in all of the openings.

All of them, except for Tactica's. And that's when the crux of my argument becomes realized.

I went back, and listened to random tracks on the Tactica soundtrack, and I didn't hear a *single* violin. No even a cello...

Even the songs done by Lyn don't have them ANYWHERE! Not 'Got Your Tail', not 'Inextinguishable', and definitely not 'Truth Or Dare' (I might do a reblog that adds these three Lyn tracks to show it, because I've run out of space, according to meany Tumblr....).

How could they forget the violins???

I get they're trying to go for a more "revolutionary" sound to the music (which is why you hear a lot of marching drums and guitars (mainly of the electric variety) in them. And a low synth, apparently...), but P5 was already about revolution in a sense. It's a bloody synonym to REBELLION, P5's main theme! And even then, they still could've kept the violins to keep the P5 sound. But, they chose not to for reasons that escape me.

So, in conclusion, I'm not big on the soundtrack to Tactica, and my findings have led me to conclude that it's because some lone bandit snuck into Atlus' headquarters, and stole all of their violins. The only thing they had left was little Ami's drumkit, so worked with that.

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 4

Pt. 4.5

[velvet-gloom]

Why the Phantom Thieves are banned from Dave & Buster’s

(Don’t take these too seriously, I’m just shitposting with no serious thought or edits)

Makoto: Roundhouse kicked a 40-year-old guy who tried to hit on Futaba and sent him to the ER

Futaba: Hacked the speakers and played unhinged nightcore dubstep remixes, was asked to stop, and proceeded to bass boost them

Akechi: Was one point away from setting the record on their DDR machine before he fucked up and proceeded to punch the screen hard enough to break it

Haru: Got WAY too into a game of laser tag, several children left crying

Ryuji: You know that one clip of the dude letting go of the bowling ball way too late and hitting the ceiling and breaking the sprinklers, flooding the whole place? That. He did that.

Ren: Used his third eye to play the rigged claw machines and beat their 1 millimeter margin of error, emptying two full machines worth of prizes before being asked to leave

Morgana: Was a cat

Yusuke: Was so appalled by the food that he snuck into their kitchen to prove he could make something more appetizing and more aesthetically pleasing. Got halfway done before getting thrown out

Shiho, who’s totally a canon member of the Phantom Thieves and always has been: Immediately helped Yusuke break back into the kitchen to finish the food. Also befriended a heard of 12-year-olds and had them distract security to buy more time

Sumire: The only one who’s still allowed in, but hasn’t had much reason to go since Akechi broke the DDR machine

Ann: Tried convincing the manager to let everyone back in, which ended in a shouting match after the manager turned out to be an asshole

[lattedecoffee]

Why go to therapy when you can get teleported to the cognitive world and forced to process your trauma or die alongside some random high schoolers.

[glittergoats]

Kingdom 3...you literally had to be there

[cloudbends]

People finding p5t's approach to personas being weird and inconsistent with the worldbuilding is so baffling to me honestly. Not only does what they did conceptually make a lot of sense psychologically, and it's very neat and refreshing to see them playing around with what constitutes a persona, but also keep in mind persona 1 had nanjo's persona be his Butler. Not a cognitive or psychological representation, genuinely just his dead butler riding on a hoverboard.

[senblades]

Hi :)

I love your art and your writing, and you have such a great grasp of these characters that I was wondering if you have any fic recs? Rating doesn't matter ;)

boy do I! (and ty for the compliment <3 <3 <3)

[cracks knuckles] alrighty:

The Dissapearence of Goro Akechi by Kupowonders - Probably my favourite fic ever, honestly- it's like. derailing the plot of persona 5 post-medjed thanks to the persona 4 accomplice ending years prior. (So, spoilers for p4 in that, too) it's. very good.

Marigolds by Colbub - Akechi gets ng+'ed to right when he started working for Shido, and has to take a good look at the future to come and be like "Aight how the fuck do I fix this". Fun times!

Daredevil, You've hit the wall by ez_cookie. Essentially, p5 Strikers but Sumire and Goro get to be in on the fun, too. And, there's a direct sequel currently being updated that's a similar premise for p5 Tactica. very very good stuff

A Tale of Two Tricksters by Zoe2k8 - Murder boyfriends! ...sort of? Angst! Angst and murder boyfriends! An oversimplification, obviously, but I'm not kidding when I say this fic is amazing and is also over a million words holy shit-

Throw away your mask by MollyPollyKinz - Another ng+ situation for Akechi, but this time the poor guy gets thrown all the way to 2009. You can imagine how well that goes (For the audience, less so for Akechi himself.)

The Crow Cries at Midnight by Dorked. hehe this one is very fun. Basically, a series of coincedencs causes Akechi to get thrown into the plot of persona 4. No time travel here! Just a grumpy 12/13 year-old Akechi trying to solve a murder mystery

The entire Tales of Chaos series by Eternalmomentss (The first one is called Like sand between your fingers) Very very good stuff! Something of a character study, I would say, of Ren and Goro. Plus, all the funky plot stuff that comes from trickster-typical bad luck and poor descision making. I really love this series hehe

uhh this post is getting very long I need to make this less wordy- lightning round?

Hunger for a life by Leonawriter - do you like vampires? I sure do! Mix that and the p5 plot and you get shenanigins. [evil laughter] a lot of shenanigins

Fishbowl by KivaEmber - Akechi has a terrible time in Maruki's reality. And I mean a terrible time

You have a beautiful smile underneath that mask by Saposaki - Akechi has a crush on Akira and Joker has a crush on Crow. No one is aware of the other's secret identity. Dramatic irony and hilarity ensues.

MASTERMiND by StumblingBlock - No Metaverse au where Akira really doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of his crime family, and fails miserably

Rose and Rot by SixteenJuniper - Read this!! I'm serious!! "A fun fantasy adventure" don't listen to Juniper. You'll be in tears by chapter two. (/pos, of course) (Seriously this fic is incredible)

Redressing the Balance by Convocated - ...almost a ng+? Ng+, in the sense that shuake are getting funky visions that are very quickly derailing the standard plot of p5r. This causes problems of the "Someone get the popcorn and maybe the tissues" variety

She's got a heartbeat full of lead (And she's aiming straight for the head) by Dots - This fic haunts me, often. In the best way possible, of course; but seriously, read it

Cracked into by SydneyHorses - Ren makes bad descisions and it becomes Akechi's problem. 2/2 timeloop, perhaps most notably featuring HaruGoro friendship! Love love love this fic

Okay that wasn't as "less wordy" as I intended but it'll do

Aaaand that's a wrap! Sorry for the long post.. and this is by no means all of the fics that I've ever loved (nor are the ones here in any particular order) but I swear we'll be here all week if I keep going HAHA

ty for the ask (and again for the kind words), anon! Hope this was helpful and to your tastes! (I... hope you like Shuake HAHA it's present in most of these- I assume you do, since you came to me (points at literally everything shuake I've made) of all people, but uh. Some of these fics are gen if it's not to your liking?)

[flagwars]

Video Game Flag Wars: Round 1

Now that the National Pride Fusion Flag Wars has ended, we can return to the Video Game Flag Wars! The prelims decided which flag would represent each series, so now the tournament contains one flag per series. This does not include mods and fangames, as there are multiple flags from Hearts of Iron mods and Roblox games in the tournament. As there are so many flags even after the prelims, there will be 32 polls in the first round rather than the usual 16. Let me know what flag you want to win! See the brackets below.

Round 1:

1. Crimson Cult Banner (Thaumcraft) vs. Flag (Roblox BedWars) vs. Salmon Run Flag (Splatoon)

2. Unnamed Flag (Lego City Undercover) vs. Atlantic Federation (Valkyria Chronicles) vs. Homestead Banner (Palia)

3. Middle Eastern Alliance (Squad) vs. Shadowkin (Raid: Shadow Legends) vs Bilge Rat Adventures Flag (Sea of Thieves)

4. Saker’s Flag (Fable) vs. Novistrana (Republic: The Revolution) vs. Arstotzka (Papers, Please)

5. San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) vs. Kirin Tor Offensive Banner (World of Warcraft) vs. Alliance of Galactic Travelers (No Man’s Sky)

6. Black Revolt (Kaiserredux) vs. Aquileian Republic (Supremacy) (Equestria at War) vs. Rescue Corps Flag (Pikmin 4)

7. Tropico (Tropico) vs. Sons of Liberty (Metal Gear Solid 2) vs. Commune of Revachol (Disco Elysium)

8. Mawkin Flag (Metroid: Dread) vs. Calchaqui (Europa Universalis 4) vs. Kazan Military Okrug (Thousand-Week Reich)

9. King Dedede’s Flag (Kirby: Triple Deluxe) vs. Meat Flag (Slime Rancher) vs. Flag of the Crown (Cult of the Lamb)

10. Communist Australia (Victoria II) vs. Delian League (Imperator: Rome) vs. Ominous Banner/Illager Banner (Minecraft)

11. Patagonian Worker’s Front (Kaiserreich) vs. Castle Siege (Super Smash Bros.) vs. Yara (Far Cry 6)

12. Stag Beetle Flag (Animal Crossing: New Leaf) vs. Fortnite (Fortnite) vs. Livonia (Arma)

13. Gaul Úr (Red Flood) vs. Strong Badia (Homestar Runner) vs. Super Earth (Helldivers)

14. Alam Melayu (Rise of Nations (Roblox)) vs. Tiki Tak Tribe (Donkey Kong Country Returns) vs. Sea Slide Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)

15. Great Lakes Government (Kalterkrieg: Shadow of the Weltkrieg) vs. Principality of Kemerovo (The New Order: Last Days of Europe) vs. Joker Banner (Balatro)

16. Shadow Isles Clash Banner (League of Legends) vs. Rebel Corps, Phantom Thieves Version (Persona 5 Tactica) vs. Antarctica (3D Atlas (1996))

17. Generic Flag (Roblox) vs. Standing Flag (Dragon Blade RPG (Roblox)) vs. Zhu Xi's Legacy (Age of Empires 4)

18. Kitakami (Pokémon Scarlet and Violet) vs. South California (Cyberpunk 2077) vs. Watchers (Overwatch)

19. Avalar (Spyro the Dragon) vs. Union of American People's Republics (Red World) vs. Grey Warden Heraldry (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

20. Eusan Nation (Signalis) vs. Aurelia (Ace Combat) vs. Outer Wilds Ventures (Outer Wilds)

21. Columbia (Bioshock Infinite) vs. Sickle Moon Flag (Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) vs. Eggmanland (Sonic Unleashed)

22. The Allied Nations (Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3) vs. The Rebellion (Just Cause 3) vs. Federation of the Americas (Call of Duty: Ghosts)

23. Great Lake Revolutionary Council (Extremis Ultimis) vs. Courland (Empire: Total War) vs. Columbia (Crimson Skies)

24. Pontiac Province (Judgement Day: Aftermath of the Red Flood) vs. Communist Iberia (Hearts of Iron IV) vs. International Workers' Armed Forces (Krasnacht: Twilight of the Gods)

25. New California Republic (Fallout) vs. Deep Hollow Valley (Night in the Woods) vs. Victory Flag (Fall Guys)

26. Zheng Fa (Ace Attorney) vs. Golden Deer Banner (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) vs. Warbanner (Risk of Rain 2)

27. Blue Flag (Halo: Combat Evolved) vs. Wario’s House (WarioWare) vs. American Collective (Twilight of the Anthropocene)

28. Niflheim (Final Fantasy XV) vs. Republic of America (Dustborn) vs. American Empire (Pax Britannica)

29. Corvus (Dead Ahead (Roblox)) vs. Banner of the First Fleet (Monster Hunter)

30. Fillydelphia Contingent (Balefire Blues) vs. Federation of Anrakan Isles (Suzerain)

31. Yartar (Baldur’s Gate 3) vs. Hurons (American Conquest)

32. Falkreath Hold (Skyrim) vs. Assassin Jolly Roger (Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag)

[saikolikes]

“Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince”: the meaning behind Erina’s banner

I’m sure most people have noticed it, as it was shown firstly in the trailer and then in the opening: “Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince” seems to be the official motto of Persona 5 Tactica, and is indeed present on Erina’s banner when she uses Flag of Freedom.

The slogan is in latin, it roughly translates as “If you want peace, you must conquer yourself,” and it’s an alteration tailored to the game from the most commonly known “Si vis pacem, para bellum” (If you want peace, prepare for war).

What most don’t know (myself included before digging deeper to make this post), is that even the “original” phrase wasn’t exactly born as such and is itself an adaptation of a wider paragraph from a military treaty — Vegetius’ De Re Militari or “Epitome of military science” (the following quote comes from the beginning of Book 3):

Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum; qui uictoriam cupit, milites inbuat diligenter; qui secundos optat euentus, dimicet arte, non casu.

From what I read, the author does a sort of introduction by citing war masters from the past, including Athens and Sparta, and declares his task in compiling all their teachings in one place. Then, he concludes by saying “Therefore, the one who desires peace shall be ready for war; the one who longs for victory shall diligently instruct his soldiers; the one who’s after success shall fight following the art of war, not chance.”

The concept here is clear: you can’t search for and uphold peace without being skilled in battle and ready to fight for that peace if need be… which is a pretty interesting message in the wider scheme of Tactica.

(Warning for story spoilers from here onwards)

I didn’t reflect on it much as I was playing, especially because the game never gives you any “official” translation of what’s written on Erina’s banner. But as I went back to thinking about it, I realised just how fitting this alteration is. The whole deal with Salmael is peace should be the ultimate goal for mankind, a state of existence where no conflict is necessary—on the contrary, conflict is viewed as a bad thing, because it causes hurt and is ultimately harmful. So it makes perfect sense that “Si vis pacem, para bellum” is something that goes against Salmael’s philosophy.

What bothers me, instead, is that it perfectly fits what Erina represents, as is and without any alteration: she battles Marie like rebels do tyrants because the peace in the Kingdom has been disrupted and she wants it back. Putting metaphors aside, Toshiro is the one that realises that only by opposing his father and his fiancé he can right the wrongs that his family committed, and eventually find peace within himself. “Si vis pacem, para bellum” is actually already tailored on what the game is about, so thinking back about the alteration they made, I can’t quite explain it.

It has to be said, though, that “Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince” is also fitting. Reconciling with one’s Shadow self, tame it and embrace it is what awakening a Persona is all about and what Toshiro does later on in the story, so to have “If you want peace, you must conquer yourself” written on Erina’s banner is also a really nice touch!

I guess my main point here is that both phrases go well with the story’s themes and plot, but I do have to say, removing “para bellum” kind of ends up reinforcing Salmael’s point, which is that war (=conflict) isn’t necessary. It ultimately serves P5’s whole narrative that puts individuals at the center of societal changes without questioning too much what role society at large plays: it is acknowledged society needs reform, but reforming passes through righteous people and removing bad apples rather than dismantling and rebuilding anew a system that is designed to be exploitative. More so that “te ipsum” is a bit like saying “you yourself” so I’d argue that a really great emphasis is put on the person/individual. Also worth noting that “te ipsum” is specifically male-gendered as “ipsum” is accusative cause (direct object) for both male (“ipse) and neutral (“ipsum”) pronouns, but “te” is accusative case for the pronoun “tu” which can only be used referring to a person; this means that if the phrase was to be female-gendered it would be “te ipsam vince”. So it really seems to be tailored to Toshiro.

I think what they did with Tactica’s motto is cool (if anything because it let me put my high school diploma at use again after 7 years lol) and definitely a nice addition that shows this game was made with a decent level of care for being a spinoff… at the same time, I can’t help but find a subtle contradiction in the alteration they made.

[incorrectallpersonaquotes]

OKAY, SO WE FINALLY BEAT PERSONA 5 TACTICA AND THE REPAINT YOUR HEART DLC, FULL SPOILER REVIEW AHEAD

- First of all, I think the game is very good. I rate it 9/10, because although there are some stuff I don’t like, the good stuff is SO good that it makes up for it perfectly. It is a great game, and I don’t regret at all buying the Deluxe Edition on release.

- The gameplay is VERY good, no doubt one of the greatest points in the game. As a fan of tactical RPG fan, it’s a system that is very different than the usual “your character’s turn, move these squares, do your action, proceed”. The fact that you freely move the characters makes for a very peculiar experience, and it makes for a very fun gameplay, with cool puzzles that, although I recognized may be annoying for some people, were very fun to me. Very cool!

- However, I think the gameplay lacked more Persona/SMT elements. For example, the lack of a system based on elemental weaknesses was something I didn’t like. Because of that, I spent 90% of the game’s battle with a party composed of Joker, Panther and Queen, without feeling any need to alternate between different characters. Sure, there’s this mechanic that the characters have better status if you let them rest, só it’s valid to alternate the party, but that was literally the only reason, the aspect of changing characters because of their strong or weak points was kinda lost. Also, no Social Links aside from the Quests and the Talk menu, that provide some fun scenes, but doesn’t replace the social aspect of the Persona games.

- That said, the Quests and Talk scenes were REALLY cool, it provided us with some awesome interactions between characters and did a wonderful job at including the newcomers Erina and Toshiro. Things like Yusuke wanting to see Legionnaires fall from the sky, Haru blowing up everything to let off steam, Erina trying to summon a Persona and being a worthy rival of Ryuji in the aspect of yelling at inappropriate times… it was all very cool. Also, the Quests were amazing in gameplay if you like puzzles. I don’t like it, but I had lots of fun with it.

- The game is kinda short, and it felt like a waste to have only two Kingdoms with a strong historical theme (the French Revolution and the Meiji Revolution), the other two Kingdoms felt kinda bland. I think it would have been nice to insert at least one or two other Kingdoms with strong revolution sceneries.

- The story itself is very cool. Erina is amazing since the start, but Toshiro is a character that really grows on you. He starts off being very annoying, but since the main story is all about his development, you end up liking him more, and the transition from “adult pain in the ass” to “honest man trying to do the right thing” is very nice, and his background is amazing.

- There’s a specific scene where you, as Joker, can pick someone on the Phantom Thieves you’d want to marry, and that includes Ryuji and Yusuke as well. I really loved that scene because, although Ryuji and Yusuke scenes are more inclined to comedy, in no moment it goes like “whaaaaat, you want to marry Ryuji, that’s weird man, no homo”, quite the opposite, in both Ryuji and Yusuke options the act of them marrying Joker is seen as totally normal, without making fun of it, and well, it’s not just the boys’ options that tend to comedy, if you pick Makoto the scene is also hilarious. Sure, it could have been better, but we’re talking about Atlus, every baby step is a reason to rejoice in that way. Who knows, maybe in Persona 6 we’ll FINALLY have a MLM romance option.

- LAVENZA IS BETTER THAN EVER, it’s her best version of all times, she radiates 1000000% of that Elizabeth and Margaret chaotic energy and I FUCKING SCREAMED WHEN VELVET ROOM TURNED INTO A FUCKING TRAIN OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME HELL YEAH

- Salmael is the generic god final boss, normal to every Persona game. But one thing I didn’t like is how it’s not directly based on any entity like Nyx, Izanami or Yaldabaoth. Sure, you can argue that it’s based on Samael, but it doesn’t make any sense, since it’s only in the name, nothing in Salmael’s motivations have anything to do with Samael. Aside from that, well, can’t say much about it, just the regular “god-that-looks-for-excuses-to-fuck-up-humanity-while-trying-to-justify-saying-they’re-actually-saving-it” that we have on every Persona game.

- I think the game is kinda easy. Sure, it’s a good thing for those who want to enjoy the story, but I beat the game on Medium and had literally no difficult whatsoever aside from some Quests (and in those cases, the difficulty is more related to solving a puzzle than facing actually difficult enemies). The damage input is mostly small, the AI is not really smart and you have access to very strong skills early on. Dunno how that would go if I tried on Hard, but Medium felt more like Easy to me. And I don’t mean that as “I’m too good for this game, it’s so easy for my standards”, but I really think the game difficulty is not that high, which can be good for some and disappointing for others.

Now about Repaint Your Heart, the DLC:

- CAN’T BELIEVE THEY ADDED SPLATOON TO THE PERSONA + FIRE EMBLEM MIX, THAT’S SO CREATIVE, SOUNDS REALLY DUMB AT FIRST BUT WORKED SO WELL

- The story itself is not that bad, but not that good either. Guernica is cool, Luca is cute, but their story wasn’t that touching for me, I couldn’t empathize with them properly.

- Still, the DLC was cool not only because of the Splatoon mechanics, but also because of Akechi and Kasumi interactions. If you play it knowing what is happening at that time (it’s before Sae’s calling card, so Akechi is already part of the Phantom Thieves, is in the middle of the plot to betray them and assassinate Joker, and Joker is fully aware of that), it’s awesome because you can clearly see the moments when Akechi’s figurative mask fells off, and you have many dialogue options made to provoke him.

- Don’t have much to say about Kasumi, she’s cute and nice as always. Also, THAT SCENE OF HER LEGIT WILLING TO PICK UP TRASH WITH LUCA, HOLY SHIT

- I want to turn Jerri into fried chicken, but her motivations seem kinda dumb, I mean, she’s a servant of Salmael, who wants to “save” mankind erasing all will of conflicts, then she brainwashes Guernica to kill all of manking using conflict? Makes no sense at all unless she was rebelling against him, and that’s clearly not the case.

Well… it was quite an experience. I loved it.

[cogandstar]

long and ramble-y post about persona 5 tactica and politics below the cut. spoilers and all that jazz, thou hast been warned.

persona 5 tactica has Interesting politics to me. because, well, it talks an awful lot about revolution and that jazz. and in the Kingdoms, you do a fair bit of revolution-esque stuff, complete with mass movements which are necessary for the overthrow of tyrannical rulers.

(the rebels are tbh one of my favorite parts of the game, especially with how they could very easily have been relegated completely to background noise, but instead at multiple points they are key for the success of the Phantom Thieves. it's great!)

in the cognitive realm, the game seems to come down pretty solidly on the side of "revolution is worth the accompanying violence" -- see the scene of Yoshiki presenting the Thieves with footage of the rebels suffering against the Aizen Squad, and, of course, the final boss being a god of peace who has decided to crush the revolutionary impulses within the hearts of humanity to ensure peace and tranquility.

Salmael is actually pretty interesting as a criticism of that general mindset of "peace over positive change." he's kinda (or at least can be read as) a symbol for the same thing Disco Elysium represents with the ideology of moralism. the thing that's most striking to me about him is his second form, wherein his appearance changes to be partially composed of bullets and other symbols of violence. with this, not only does p5t argue that the maintenance of peace over positive change is bad, but that it is, under the cover of gentility and nonviolence, itself fundamentally built upon violence and force.

it's not that hard to construct a leftist reading of this, even without the influences of Soviet constructivist art on the menus and UI, and the presence of Che Goddamn Guevara as a heroic Persona in the form of Ernesto. it's a game where the heroes organize mass movements to overthrow tyrannical rulers based on, respectively, a wealthy corporate heiress and a corrupt politician. (i'm not really counting nakabachi because he's not a real ruler and also Kingdom 3 is just less political than the others, it's very heavily focused on Toshiro as a person without really even a political surface level.) then, the heroes fight against the God of Liberalism, revealing the hidden violence underneath its guise of peace and moderation, and ultimately defeating it.

but you kind of run into an issue of like, what are the Thieves' revolutions for? ultimately, they're basically just all against what the tyrants do. in kingdom 1, they're against a wealthy aristocrat forcing people to set up a wedding for her and her forced-groom. in kingdom 2, they're against a ruler running an all encompassing surveillance system and forced labor camps. in kingdom 3 they're against school staff blackmailing students for personal gain.

and i think it's notable that both Marie and Yoshiki are mainly presented in settings that distance them and their wrongs from modern day capitalism. Marie's Kingdom is based on vaguely-revolutionary France, and she herself is fairly clearly based on the pop culture image of Marie Antoinette, from her name to her behavior and aesthetic in the Kingdom and even how in the real world, she makes reference to "the poors" and "commoners." if there's any class being criticized through the character of Marie Anto, it's not the bourgeoisie -- it's the old feudal aristocracy.

Yoshiki is also distanced from modern electoral politics by being predominantly shown in a world based on Bakumatsu-era Japan. it's also notable that, in the Kingdom, he is described as being a general, not in any way elected. so while in the real world, his power comes from the edifice of liberal democracy as it stands in Japan, the system that you actually lead a revolution against is a feudal-military dictatorship.

this is all without mentioning that, underneath the political veneer, the Kingdoms are all in-universe metaphors for what's going on in Toshiro's head. in the end, everything's very personal! and ultimately, after Toshiro has gone through all his character development and unleashed Che Goddamn Guevara as the manifestation of his true self, what does he do in the real world?

he gets two specific bad actors arrested, apologizes for his personal role in their corruption, and then restarts his career as an electoral politician.

as soon as p5t retreats from the cognitive world, so too does it retreat from the idea of revolution against prevailing power structures. i cannot recall a moment where anyone, really, even considers the thought of revolution against the systems that produced Marie and Yoshiki and Nakabachi; they have defeated Salmael and gotten the bad actors arrested, so it's all good.

so, i guess in summary, p5t presents pro-revolution (even pro-revolutionary violence!) and borrows aesthetically from communism, and though you can certainly read certain parts (i.e. Salmael) as fairly pointed criticisms of liberal capitalism, but. considering the game as a whole, it's structured in a way that distances its arguments in favor of revolution from those modern power structures both by limiting them to the metaphorical realm of cognition and by structuring the most political cognitive realms as historical oppressive structures.

[indagolive]

I forgot how much I just... loved playing games.

Like recently I've started/continued playing Persona 5 Tactica, Xenoblade Chronicals Definitive Edition, Paper Mario TTYD, Kirby Return to Dreamland, Legend Of Zelda a Link Between Worlds, Kid Icarus Uprising and Splatoon 3, ALONGSIDE my constants of playing Minecraft, Smash Ultimate and Pokemon

For a while I was trying to manage doing one game at a time, so I wouldn't have started a new game until I beat the one I was currently playing. But I think that just caused me to have less time ENJOYING each game, and just made playing the current one feel like something I HAD to do.

I'm not exactly super far in any of the games I mentioned, but I'm chipping away at all of them when I feel in the mood. and it feels great! Genuinely, if you've caught yourself in the mood of "I don't know what to play", I promise you just grab one thing from your "Backlog" and just start chipping away at it. Even if you have no intentions of finishing it for a long time there aren't rules to how you enjoy Video Games.

[0heartangel0]

PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: AN ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

Pt. 4.5: Kingdom 4 Is A Waste Of My Time

After shortly running through each Kingdom's gimmick in the previous part, I realized something that I knew I needed to discuss on its own. And that's the fact that Kingdom 4 is the worst thing to happen to any Persona player since October 4th!

It might sound like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. It sucks. I hate it. It's garbo! It's what would culminate from Fuuka, Chie, Yukiko, Akechi, and Zenkichi all collaborating to cook something. Blindfolded.

Who in the board meeting stood up and was like, "you know what would make this game better? If we did a dumb boss rush at the final world, while making everything and everyone grey!" And everyone clapped. And the one mother flipper that tried to object was launched to the stratosphere.

Let me tell you something: no one likes a boss rush, especially if it's a recolored version of the same boss. I hated it in Kirby, and I hate it here. And even then, it's just the bosses repeating the same kinds of lines and attacks once you get to them after two missions (I get that that's the point, but still).

The environment isn't even that nice to look at. It's just....Grey and metallic. It's extremely boring, and makes me frustrated having to go through 9 levels of this same environment. Even the enemies are grey!

Oh, but don't worry! The game actually gives a reason as to why everything looks like this!

Translation: After Toshiro found his big boy britches, Salmael ran out of colored ink in his printer, so now has to resort to the black and white setting no one likes.

That's still such a stupid reason, but OKAY!

They also tried to explain why they brought back the bosses, and it's just as dumb!

So, basically, Samael brought these rulers back simply to put fear back into Toshiro....even though he has gone against and conquered these fake versions of these people before! So, obviously, it won't work again, just because they're grey now, and you amped up what they say now!

Isn't it funny just how over-the-top she's being (even though she was always like this)? Isn't it hilarious how the big bad is so desperate to make Toshiro shake in his little boots, that he just had to bring back the same ridiculous-looking mother flippers again, but add a grey coat of paint on them with cute red highlights? No. At least, not to me.

You know what is funny? The fact that they did this just to show how Toshiro has grown throughout this game. But really, this is just unnecessary.

The fact that he has faced these people before and even get scenes before and after their defeat where he accepts what they did to him, and he'll stand up to them SHOWS this! Hell, his awakening + him fighting his shadow was supposed to show this growth! We don't need an extra reminder of this! We kind of get it! The fact he's even down here to face a GOD should be proof enough! We shouldn't have to be forced to relive this same moment of confrontation *X3* to prove to us that Toshiro is no longer the guy that keeps a night light in his bedroom to go to sleep! Then again, I still have my doubts, considering how they handle his growth, but trust me, WE'LL GET TO THAT!

So, in a way, this is all just one big rehash. They might as well have cut to the final boss the moment we got to this Kingdom to save me the trouble!

Also, you mean to tell me that I have to fight Eri AGAIN after having just faced her, not....*8* missions ago?! And she's somehow EASIER??!! AND GREY????? Is this really how we're ending the game???

And this is just the surface - a peek through the curtain, if you will - of just how dumb the villain is, since this is his lair! His Bowser's castle! He couldn't even be bothered to put in some torches! NOTHIN'!!

I keep saying it, but I will talk about the villain at some point! And I'll have words for him!

Then again, I already did, here. Let's just say, insulting his decor was the first step among a whole 2 year-old's Christmas list's length list.

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 3

Pt. 4

(Next up's just gonna be another random tangent on something I don't think many people have talked about, so might as well step into the ring. Sorry once again if it takes too long)

[alfiely-art]

I can't stand the Persona fandom on twitter. I found out that in Persona 5 Tactica, you can pretend to marry all the Phantom thieves except Morgana, Akechi, and Sumire. And I was so excited!!! This is great!!! Then I see this article (linked so you can read the full thing yourself)

And like. Come ON. Is there anything "obsessive" about gay marriage here???

The way people are reacting to this post is insane. There is??? No sexualization here????? Gay people aren't inherently sexual. I thought people had moved past that.

Of course people were going to be worried about how they handled it. Did they forget about the gay couple/drag queen npcs??? That was fucking awful.

Twitter needs to implode

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

“We could give you a codename, if you want,” says Kurusu-senpai. “Just for while we’re here.” “That's a great idea!” says Luca-san, and Kasumi finds herself swayed by the younger girl. Though there's still one problem… “I have no idea what it'd be, though.” “Let's make this quick—the enemies are treading closer to our current hiding spot, and we wouldn't want to be ambushed,” says Akechi-san. “Maybe…Appetite?” suggests her senpai, and Kasumi feels her face flush slightly. “Senpai! I really don't eat that much…” “Leotard?” offers Luca-san. “Or is that too literal…?” Akechi-san sighs loudly, clearly unamused by their ideas. Kasumi finds herself grateful more than anything. “May I suggest Violet?”

A collection of scenes taking place during Persona 5 Tactica's DLC Repaint Your Heart

[p5x-theories]

So we now know that the only song on the P5X soundtrack to be composed by Atlus staff is the OP, Ambitions and Visions, which is a Kozuka (SMT4/5/5V, Devil Survivor 2) and the rest of the songs have been done in-house by Black Wings Studio staff. This is super impressive to me, they've really nailed the style of track that I would expect from Atlus composers like Kozuka and Konishi. Toshiki Konishi is one of my favourite composers, and just compare his tracks like 'Abyss of Despair' (Persona 5 Tactica) and 'Prison Labour' (Persona 5 Royal) to RageEducation, that new datamined track. They've really nailed one of the styles he uses, super cool stuff.

Yeah, the music in the game has all felt very Atlus, they're doing a great job!! I'm really looking forward to hearing more from them, all the music has been very fun so far.

[loopingpyre]

I finished the dlc of Persona 5 Tactica and yeah.

This should have been set post-game if only to make Akechi more aggressive. I've never been less excited when Akechi is on screen because there's no good dynamic between him and Joker here.

Sumi is also hit because she's doing little more than existing.

The DLC characters try to appeal to aspects of the two, but they're still fairly weak. I really enjoy Guernica but predominantly due to the fact she's fought several times as a challenging boss fight.

The map design is fantastic, throw this dlc on hard and it's a great set of challenge maps with a fun gimmick. The last several especially.

But the royal trio don't have any interesting dynamic here, the dlc story doesnt feel like it accomplishes anything, and the Stingers are entirely unnecessary setup for the main game.

Don't play this until after the game itself.

Or save yourself $US20 and don't buy it at all.