Unveiling the Game-Changing Lesson P5 Tactica Must Learn from P5 Strikers

Persona 5 Tactica presents a long-awaited opportunity to merge the tactics genre seamlessly with the beloved Persona series. While spin-offs have explored various genres in the past, Persona 5 Tactica aims to incorporate essential elements from the main series that were noticeably absent in recent spin-off titles. By learning from the misstep of Persona 5 Strikers' BOND system, Tactica can reintroduce the core Persona 5 Confidant system, offering a fresh gameplay experience while retaining the series' crucial social systems and character interactions. This inclusion is crucial to differentiate Persona from other JRPGs and prevent it from being simply labeled as "Pokémon with demons." The tactics genre itself provides a strong precedent for the successful integration of the Confidant system, further highlighting its suitability for Persona 5 Tactica.

Persona 5 Strikers' BOND System Was Functional But Not Up to Series Standard

The introduction of Persona 5's Confidant system stands out as the franchise's most refined version of its Social Links. By engaging in real-world social activities with party members, players are rewarded with bonuses that enhance their experience in both the Metaverse and everyday life. Unlike previous iterations, Persona 5 strikes the perfect balance between dungeon crawling, social interactions, and life-sim gameplay, encouraging players to fully immerse themselves in all aspects of the game. In contrast, Persona 5 Strikers falls short with its BOND system.

While the BOND system in Persona 5 Strikers does offer rewards for completing Requests, interacting with party members, and finishing missions, these bonuses are merely automatic rewards for progressing through the story. Although the streamlined, action-focused gameplay of Persona 5 Strikers necessitated a similar treatment for its other systems, the removal of the social component in forming bonds with party members cheapened the rewards. Given that Persona 5 Tactica remains an RPG spin-off, it would be more fitting for Confidants to make a full return rather than a variation resembling the BOND system.

Fire Emblem's Template Proves Confidants Could Work in Persona 5 Tactica

If Persona 5 Tactica were to incorporate a similar gameplay structure as Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it could reintroduce the Confidant system in a meaningful way. Players would have the chance to deepen their bonds with party members by completing missions together, and then further develop their Confidant ranks during downtime in the social hub, much like in Persona 5. Fire Emblem Engage lacked the depth of its predecessor's social systems, making Persona 5 Tactica the perfect opportunity to bring back the beloved Confidant system from Persona 5.

Persona 5 Tactica will launch November 17th for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.