REVIEW PERSONA 5 for a Phantom Thief, turns out. Thankfully, the stealth system is built so that a simple press of X moves you between cover spots. It’s quick and intuitive to sneak up on guards, rip off their masks, and start a fight. Here, Persona 5 truly shines. Every member of your party is equipped with their own Persona, or inner-self. These manifest as various creatures and humanoids, each with specific strengths and weaknesses. Bad-boy Ryuji is able to strike enemies with lighting and pack a punch with physical attacks, while the bandit cat Morgana can heal your party and devastate foes with wind magic. As the protagonist, however, you can switch your Personas at will, by changing the mask you wear. Every fight requires a decent array of strategies and tactics. Hitting an enemy‘s weakness will make them collapse, and grant the attacker an extra turn–no matter if they’re friend or foe. This means most fights will consist of team experimentation and movetesting until you find that sweet spot, all while covering your own frailties. These extra turns can be passed to other team mates via a “Baton Pass,” ensuring that you can combo hits on certain elemental weaknesses. Things get interesting, as more often than not, your personal arsenal of Personas may not able to bash all enemy weaknesses, while your teammates’ can. In such a case, you can switch to your appropriate demon, let your elemental magic loose, and Baton Pass your free turn to another Phantom Thief who can pick up your slack. Once every enemy monster is down on the ground, they’re held at gunpoint, and the Phantom Thieves are provided a few options: attack the monster, ask for an item or money, or negotiate with them. Attacking them normally does a fair amount of damage and can quickly turn a battle in your favor. However, the time comes when that extra dough or restorative can really come in handy. Taking either option, though, forces you 38
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to miss out on the real treat: negotiation. These enemies can be persuaded to join your team! After some quick conversational navigation, the creature may suddenly decide to join you in the form of a new Persona. Your personal progression and stats are pushed forth by the collection of stronger Personas. However, these innerselves can also be combined in a mysterious consciousness known as the Velvet Room. Here, two adorable prison wardens can sentence multiple of your devilish allies to death, only to be reborn as a tougher Persona. This fusion allows you to choose the best moves and skills from your original Personas, and carry them over to a new one with better attacks and less weaknesses. That’s a lot to take in, but thankfully Persona 5 somewhat guides you in the opening hours (almost too much). Surprisingly, each and every mechanic is important to the overall experience, and overlaps with each other in surprising ways. Hanging out with your new Tokyo contacts (aptly titled Confidants) will give
you new skills and abilities in dungeons. Carrying certain Personas can also help you grow closer to specific allies. This all combines to form a very strategic time-management system. The game doesn’t happen in real-time, but performing specific actions will automatically advance time a few hours forward. For example, after school you may have the option to chill with the lovely Ann, train at a gym to raise your HP, work part-time for money and a possible stat increase, or explore the latest Palace. One you pick your agenda, it’s suddenly night time, which provides a different array of options. It’s a gratifying risk/reward system, as players are tasked with choosing the activities closest to their hearts,
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