I'm honestly pretty burned out on Persona, specifically the P5 cast, at this point, BUT...I figured I'd give them one last rodeo with Tactica. Especially bc I like seeing different takes on tactics RPG gameplay.
I'm liking it so far! Its closest parallel game is definitely Mario+Rabbids, but I think I prefer this game more than that series.
If you're wondering if you can play this game without playing Persona 5, I would say yeah probably. Maybe read like a 1-sentence synopsis of who the Phantom Thieves are so you know who the cast is?
Non-spoilers impressions below:
- Love the art style. Love the dialogue portraits and the 3D cutscenes, which I honestly like more than their counterparts in actual Persona 5. I was unsure of the character designs when Tactica was first teased, but I grew to love them. Everyone's really expressive.
- New character, Erina, is great. Love her.
- Fun tactics gameplay. Definitely leans slightly in the direction of "puzzley tactics" rather than "all-out brawl" tactics if that makes sense. What I mean is that like, battles can take a hard swing for the good or the bad depending on whether you made a huge mistake. I did one side quest that definitely felt like a "puzzle", in that there was a specific way to beat in the required amount of turns. The main story missions are a nice blend so far. I guess I would call Final Fantasy Tactics an "all-out brawl" tactics game.
- If you play this game, definitely make sure you digest the main mechanic of the game: knock an opponent away from cover, then hit them when they're out in the open. That gives you an extra turn. This is absolutely crucial to surviving.
- But on that note...the game generously offers, like, 5 different difficulty choices!
- Character customization is nice and streamlined. I don't think the game cares at all if you're a nerd about Persona fusion, you can kind of just go with the flow. Your choices are a combination of equipping Personas and also leveling up a character skill tree.
- I honestly like how the Personas themselves are handled in this more than in Persona 5. Each character has their signature Persona at all times, PLUS equips one of your homemade fused Personas. So Joker can have Arsene + Jack Frost, for example. To account for this, I think each Persona only has 2 Skills each.
- Each party member has their own, like, "Ultimate" ability and Passive ability that's unique to them, so that's nice.
- No hub world to run around in, which for me is a HUGE plus. Just a pleasant hub menu with things to do in between battles.
- The game does a GREAT job of slowly unraveling the mechanics so that it doesn't overwhelm you all at once in the beginning
- The story is whatever so far, if I'm being honest. But it's inoffensive and you can easily skip a few cutscenes without missing any crucial information.
I don't think the game is gonna blow any Persona fan or tactics fan's mind, but I think it's successful so far. It feels like an alternate choice to Mario+Rabbids, with a slightly different take on how to make a similar game.
Good job Atlus!
