The Hidden & Forgotten Genius of Persona 5 Strikers ("when Atlus listened to fans")

[@LadyVirgilia]

Really loved remembering how comfy Persona 5 Strikers was

[@Alpha-gc9lx]

Stricker was best spin off full of action, and funny moment. Really hope sophia and zenkichi will get their apparitions in futures games ❤❤❤ but i wont say that i have enough of p5 spin of.

[@georgemeyers7172]

Would like to hear what you have to say about Tacticua. Like that game.

[@RevaliHeeHo]

Hope you get better soon.

[@snakekingblues3017]

Did they fix the Ryuji scene When he Rescued everyone And almost died in persona 5 royal

[@night104]

This game is so underrated. The chemistry between the characters was way more entertaining than vanilla/royal. Sophia and Zenkichi are amazing additions and characters. The gameplay is addicting and very fun and music is so PEAK!

[@Trattato68]

Not so much Sophia, it's the classic cliche of the person who knows nothing about the world but who, thanks to the help of the main protagonists, becomes normal. Something seen several times in Japanese narratives and Sophia doesn't do anything that adds diversity to the cliche. Zenkichi on the other hand was a nice character, it's really a shame that he will hardly be seen outside of Strikers

[@jamilgonzaga7081]

@@Trattato68 You focused too much on diversity and cliches, rather than the story making in itself. The 2 characters are really great additions to the PT, they're both hyped up in the end because of their developments and it's awesome. I look forward to seeing them in the future even just as cameos.

[@kidrobot.]

no it's not

[@surgecentral05]

Thank God someone finally gets it. People like to shit on it just because it doesn't mention anything from Royal (which are just simple enough additions to the actual story that nothing is ever contradicted by this game's story). The dynamic of the characters feel more akin to friends than they do in the original P5 or Royal. They don't treat the characters as if they only matter for a single story purpose then brush them off to the side. Each story arc brings up old wounds for the Phantom Thieves and shows how the journey through P5 and as friends has changed each of them. It especially brings up how the cops were a loose end by the end of P5R, finally exonerating the Phantom Thieves. And as a whole, the overarching moral of choosing pain and growth over giving up one's free will is extended past the original P5, and even lines up with Royal's true ending. One more note, while P5 dealt with society's evils and choosing to rebel against it, Strikers explains the nuances of it, like how it's not just a black-and-white mentality and some people will have to make sacrifices to be their true selves, case-in-point, Zenkichi and his regrets as a police officer. And isn't it kinda cool that an AI literally chooses its humanity. There's a real vocal minority that likes to shit on the game whenever they get the chance just cause they wanna suck off Akechi, Sumire, and Maruki. I love them just as much, but it shouldn't be a reason to disregard this game's story, especially with how much effort was put into making Strikers live up to the expectations some people had when the original P5 failed in some aspects. I really do love Strikers, and even though it's a spinoff, there was a lot of care put into it and I hate to see it overlooked as much as it is.

[@MudkrabLord]

​@@surgecentral05That's one of the reasons I really like Persona 4 compared to vanilla/Royal 5 is because the Investigation Team actually feels like a group of friends working together instead of a forced team

[@BlazeStorm]

Strikers truly felt like the friend group you built during P5 being in full bloom. "The gang is back and we're just having a good time". God I love this game. And the soundtrack, I still listen to it on the regular!

[@Bobson_Dugnutt_Esq]

Strikers felt like such a natural extension to Persona 5. Even the battle system was stylized to flow with the aesthetic and vibe of Persona 5.

[@danielmcdonagh1693]

As terrible as the hot springs scene is, I dearly love the earlier bathhouse scene where even as you overhear the girls doing the cliche anime 'lets compare boob sizes' bit, you're given the opportunity to compliment Ryuji's abs and he takes it in stride. Just guys being bros.

[@finaldusk1821]

What was interesting about that scene is how it implicitly showcased some character growth on Ryuji's part. Unlike in the first game (its bathhouse scene comes to mind) he isn't pressing the guys about which of the girls is 'their type' or fantasising about them. When Futaba calls attention to them, he seems ouright uncomfortable of having that image of his friends put in his head. -1 social tact for Futaba but +1 social maturity for Ryuji, never would've expected the latter! I can't really call it a 'good' scene given how Ann dismissively and uncharacteristically throws Haru under the bus as a distraction and a lot of that comedy was at their expense, but it''s still WAY better than the awful scene that followed.

[@valekstormhowl4999]

@finaldusk1821 thankfully the follow up scene is super brief and it moves on. It almost feels like the publisher was like hey include a hotspring scene where girls beat up guys bc reasons! I can't be too mad it bc the game moves past it in seconds

[@BigKlingy]

Firstly, I want to give a huge shout-out to Toru Yorogi and Yusuke Niita. Both are credited with "scenario" in both Royal and Strikers (and Tactica!), but had limited roles in P5 Vanilla (Yorogi was an "NPC Planner", whatever that means). This means it's likely both are writers for Royal and Strikers and given how much better their writing was received than vanilla, they deserve a lot of credit. I always felt like P4 and Base P5 had opposite problems: P4 had too much downtime. On the one hand it gave the party a great "high school friends" dynamic, but on the other I felt like P4 often... forgets it has a plot, before suddenly going "oh right! the murder case!" for a scene or two. However, I think it says something that Kanji and Rise are very memorable despite TECHNICALLY being irrelevant to the plot after their arcs are over. Base P5 had too little downtime. On the one hand, the story moved at a good pace, but on the other, the PTs didn't get much chance to establish a group dynamic, and it resulted in Ann, Yusuke and Haru dropping off after their arcs. P3 is hard to pin down, since I feel it balanced plot and downtime but there were also big gaps where neither happens... but it always stood out less than P4's gaps, because Tartarus was a constant presence. Strikers and Royal were "just right", I feel. The "Goldilocks" balance of plot and downtime. The downtime scenes fit into the road trip plot perfectly, developed the PTs, didn't overstay their welcome and only the hot spring scene felt intrusive to the main plot. I'm hoping future Persona takes cues from this approach. Regarding Strikers' Monarchs, I see them as a different approach to villains and one that worked for its story, although probably also addressing fan complaints that the Palace Rulers were flat characters. I mostly agree with you on that approach fitting base P5... but Kamoshida is often cited as a very memorable and well-written villain despite being unsympathetic, while Kaneshiro and Shido are a lot less popular. I've always believed that it doesn't matter whether a villain is sympathetic or not, they just have to be well-handled (Hi-Fi Rush, which I beat recently, has incredible villains and only one is sympathetic). Maruki and Strikers' villains, to me, are well handled but I don't think it's because they're not cartoonishly evil, I just think they're more involved in their arcs and have better dialogue than vanilla's weaker ones. On adult Persona users, I always felt people wanted them because Persona 2 love and because it'd be something different, not due to relatability... although with Larry in Pokemon SV being so relatable to adult Pokemon fans you've definitely got a point. It seems like there's more adult fans of the series in the west due to the M ratings, while in Japan Persona feels like it was always aimed at teens. Personally I don't care about the age of a new party member as long as they're good, but Zen being an adult among the PTs worked as an expansion on the original's themes, having an adult "redeem themselves" to a group with a bad history with them (especially police and authority). Meanwhile there were times in the story where Zen felt like the perspective character, and the PTs are the rowdy bunch of teens he got stuck babysitting. Strikers is kind of two plots: Zen redeeming himself to the PTs and the PTs redeeming themselves to Zen, leading to a mutual reconciliation between the young and old that may be the answer to the societal questions the base game posed. (Dang I didn't meant to go that deep, but it just shows how good Strikers' writing is) Gameplay-wise I always found Strikers fun, but online discourse seems to be mixed, with Musou fans feeling there's less emphasis on combos and some action rpg fans not liking the pausing for Persona skills. There's a lot of complaints about boss fights being "HP sponges that take too long", but I hope to cover Strikers soon and show that isn't the case if you use the mechanics to their fullest. (Sneak peak: Technical and Weakness multipliers STACK in Strikers, so you want to Burn Alice and then hit her with Wind) Thanks for the video, always great to get more word out about Strikers.

[@starmaker75]

Well see you this as a video to hype up people for your strikers playthrough and preview. Also like alot of western fans, I think doing college student cast would be a good in-between. However as you said persona is market towards teens and I wouldn't that annoyed about. Unlike some fans that get keep on throwing ideas and acting like all of is good and then acting like Altis hates fans for not putting them in latest game. However I would like to see a shakeup

[@LigayasJoys]

Thank you for mentioning that the excessive downtime in P4 meant that the plot got forgotten a lot. I also personally found many of the P4's Investigation Team grating and annoying, which made the very long downtime between fights even harder for me to watch. Finally, the endgame left much to be desired... the way it was executed made no logical sense and the logic behind it was weird.

[@BigKlingy]

@@LigayasJoys P4 has some very good moments, but its story is my least favourite of the 3-4-5 trilogy. When it's good, it's VERY good. The issue is, like I said here, it often forgets it has a plot for long stretches of time. Very little happens to advance the murder plot between Yukiko and Mitsuo's dungeons, for example.

[@LadyVirgilia]

hell yeah Yorogi & Niita based I generally agree with the comparison. I guess on a sort of related note, I generally find the "this = the *only* real friendship" arguments strange honestly. Can't help but notice people just don't seem to realize different people are seeking different things from/in their friendships (same with relationships). To just throw out an example- some people prefer having a single friend group where everyone knows the others and they stick to themselves. Others like being involved in "multiple groups," and/or having and meeting friends from a variety of different places. Ones who don't necessarily know each other. But yeah I'd agree Royal and Strikers found a nice balance that could satisfy all tastes. Same, I think there's a place for both kinds of villains/antagonists. Just depends on what the story is asking for! I've seen the P2 comparisons around, which is why I included that part in the video, but of the comments I personally noticed online were more ones that expressed frustration with the high school kids and setting in a "everyone is so naive, annoying, immature" kind of way lol. Invoking "damn kids! get off my lawn!" vibes @.@ I think my perception has been colored by twitter ughhhh. I'm really glad I'm off that site for the forseeable future That's a great and insightful way to look at the Zen and PT relationship btw! Especially how P5/R leaves us with Sae & the adults working on getting Joker released & just the overall Shido case. In other words, leave it to us adults now. But we don't get to tangibly see what that concept looks like to the PT until Strikers. Funny enough, I don't really have much to say about Strikers gameplay other than, I thought it felt good and was fun and I enjoyed it haha :P But yeah more Strikers love! It could definitely use one of your in-depth playthroughs! Thanks for your thoughtful comments always Klingy!

[@BigKlingy]

@@LadyVirgilia True, there's a lot of different ways to be friends. I wasn't trying to imply there was ONE way, just that vanilla P5 didn't do the best job of giving the PTs a memorable group dynamic. I don't think Strikers would've worked with fully hatable antagonists. I'm... confused as to why someone would complain about teenagers in a high school RPG series, but... Twitter. Granted, most JRPG characters skew young (there's a meme about anyone over 25 being "ancient" by their standards), but I still think it's important to see people different from yourself in media. Personally I like it when an RPG includes a rare 50+ year old. Especially older women, sadly due to "waifu appeal" they're not common, but Niime in Fire Emblem Binding Blade is a great character. I've been studying Strikers speedruns a little (speedruns are often a good way to find out what strategies are considered "optimal") and the trend seems to be Technical damage, especially Dizzy, a status you didn't see too often in base P5. (I love that Haru gets a Rage skill and Technical Adept in Strikers)

[@matchanavi]

I'm glad someone else appreciates Strikers' story as much as I do. Yeah it had some retread of themes, but the antagonists are SO much better. Also regarding P5 Royal's backstory scenes: For Kamoshida, he had just won his olympic medal and was gonna get a private interview from a female reporter, but he ended up being a creep and tried touching her. He was extremely scared and regretful for what he had done, but then his agent assured him that he'd get covered up and something in him realized that he can get away with those kind of things. I like that, because it doesn't make him simpathetic, but rather it shows how society allowed for someone as flawed as him to gain the power he did. People just didn't want the image of a "hero" to be ruined.

[@lemonov3031]

More like, society enabled his bad sides. There's good to Kamoshida, like to any human, he isn't fundamentally evil or anything.

[@LadyVirgilia]

Regarding Kamoshida, I can understand why you would think that, and many others would too, but I dunno... There are many in the communities I've worked with who seem like Kamoshida when we're first brought in to provide services, mediation, etc. As in, there's no redeeming character since we're presented only with the "bad things/instances" that they've done first, and it's not *until* we're shown a different side or aspect of their past that we get a better understanding of what might drive someone to think they can get away with things, or learn negative coping mechanisms (including harming others). Though not to say there aren't times when people are just... malicious for "no reason." Nor am I excusing the actually bad behavior (i.e. sexual assault). But even in the Kamoshida flashback scene you mention, let's look at what the reporters bring up first. Everything that has to do with his pro volleyball accolades, being the team captain, the pressure, etc. He mentions how it was difficult for him, and he's not great at speaking in front of crowds, his body language is clearly uncomfortable on the stage (sweatdrops, etc.), but the TV announcers say "but you seem like a natural!" It reminds me of many other pro athletes who simply just want to play the game (example is Kevin Durant in the NBA), they don't want to do all the front facing/public appearances the League and the agents basically force them to do (oftentimes to secure sponsorships back for the pro league). I've seen many in the public say in response: if you don't like it, then find another job then. But that's so strange to me. Clearly these people are natural, gifted, talented at what they do, and just want to do it for a living. It's much like any other career path others pursue as their "dream." Another example, many editors, artists, actors, etc don't like *every* aspect of the industry, but they wouldn't completely quit because they didn't like 1 thing of 10 things no? Kamoshida himself also says without his volleyball talent he's nothing. This isn't to say many people *do* find they're forced to pivot from what they're naturally gifted at/want to do (I understand that on a very personal level), but at the same time don't we encourage people to pursue what they love to do? Even earlier on in the flashback, the reporters bring up how he donated half his earnings to his local high school (giving back to the community). So yeah... I think it can be very easy to focus only on the negative. Though vice versa can also be true. Like the people who will defend these people when they clearly should face punishment for their crimes. So for me, I can at the very least empathize with the part of Kamoshida that feels pressured in the spotlight and doesn't necessarily *want* to do commercials like that. Also it's crazy whack how the company is the one who says, "hey you must feel pressured right to be the front-face of the brand/company basically, we'll make sure we can ease your burden, just ASK US IF YOU NEED A WOMAN AND WE'LL GET IT DONE FOR YOU." They just... didn't have to do that and arrange for THERAPY/COUNSELING ISNTEAD?! Why even make him privy to that option...?! So yes, I agree that it's crazy how they just enabled him like that. In general I think most people want to believe or assume they won't take these kinds of crazy temptations, but unfortunately it turns out there are plenty of people who wind up taking those routes who seem very ordinary. You mentioned how people don't want "their image of a hero being ruined" (which is what the manager in the scene says himself), but that's true in almost all things irl. We naturally want to believe we're incapable of "being bad people or doing bad things," but that's not really the case based on what I've seen. Anyway, I apologize if this response comes off as antagonistic, I don't mean it that way, nor to call you out specifically. I was just hoping to point out that there are those who *would* be able to recognize and/or even personally relate to the stuff Kamoshida struggles with in his flashback. And therefore feel a bit more sympathetic to the circumstances that got him there, though again, I'm not condoning his horrible actions against that woman. He should've faced official punishment for the SA the very first time. I'd argue that the Jail Rulers are like Palace Rulers who were stopped before they were able to get very far in their "evil ways" vs. P5's circumstances where the villains have been doing these things for years/decades).

[@nightwish1453]

personally I disagree with the antagonists being better. the problem I have with them is the cycle premise's flaws stick out far more as any additonal information of their motivation/backstory ends up feeling predictable. with the main game royal did play with adding nuance to the villians like kamoshida but backed out likely due to feeling as though it would do more harm then good and would feel like it's jammed in there

[@LordTyph]

Makes you wonder what would have happened if it wasn't covered up. Would he have gone on to be a better person?

[@kagekun1198]

Persona 5 Strikers is one of the few Persona games which I consider a true sequel. The way the Phantom Thieves act now really do happen like someone with experience Phantom Thieving the past year do. This time, they don't just beat the Shadows, they really do talk them down instead after the mandatory boss fight. They approach their targets with more compassion befitting the added complexity. Also, it is always nice to see more character interactions between the cast. And better, no pesky memory wipes to erase all their development and experiences (Looking at you; Q and Dancing). I also do agree that Atlus needs to introduce more adult Persona users. Not sure if you felt this way, but the dialogue between the Phantom Thieves when confronting Shido felt a little too naive, which can be justified since this is the first time the teens have encountered such brazen corruption. However, this leaves them with a little lacking and frankly, too soft when encountering true evil. Adults on the other hand, who have seen things and been around the block (like Zenkichi) would provide better verbal sparring when they inevitably confront the villains. And given the general trend of Persona games, I really do think adults need to be the ones to solve the problems once and for all. I mean, how many times can we the audience lead a scrappy band of teens into overthrowing the nefarious machinations of the personification of the human consciousness again before that plot goes stale? So far, since Persona 3, it has been teenagers to save the world from self-obliteration about six times over until P5 Strikers! That sort of responsibility shouldn't be left to kids! But I get it. Atlus needs a comfortable balance of life simulator and dungeon crawling, and the average life of a salaryman simply doesn't allow for that. So the answer is college students. Making the next cast of Persona users older would accomplish so many things. It can change up the formula while still keeping a familiar balance of school life and dungeon crawling. Since the cast has aged up, the writers can now openly tackle the mature subjects that Persona has always covered better. Also, all that controversies about romancing adult women will magically melt away. So many pros covered in one swift stroke. Atlus, make it happen!

[@thatonedude4361]

@kagekun1198 I feel like they can achieve that life sim/dungeon crawler balance if they just put the characters in college. They'd be young enough to be relatable and marketable but also old enough for them to not come off as naive kids, and it would ease up the pressure with some of the lewd tropes and jokes that Atlus puts into the games, like the hot spring scenes and what not. There would still be a school system, and it wouldn't mess with their system of having confidants/social links being available on certain days. While it would possibly get rid of the school trip section of the games, they could substitute it for a group vacation during one of their long breaks. College life should be considered for persona 6 in my opinion. I remember seeing some leaks about it (grain of salt moment), and it said that it would take place in an art school. I know art high schools exist but I think it would be more likely, or at least better that it takes place in an art focused college

[@stfilo1948]

Strikers was a effing blast not only with the new characters which are great but giving us THE Ryuji moment which everyone celebrated. While all arc are great i have a peculiar spot for the Haru arc which giving us a full arc without something like Morgana intervention during the pre-boss fight against her dad and my lord was so good seeing my favourite female character of P5 get the spotlight. Also the hee-hoorde had me laughing for 10 minutes when i got to that part

[@dorin497]

I really liked the last boss battle where the entire cast was split into three groups and each fought their own mini boss battle. I dunno if this has been implemented in other rpgs but I really thought it was a novel idea. Doing more of that kind would incentivize leveling all of the characters and not just use 4 while benching the rest. Plus I really like thinking about who would pair well with who.

[@LigayasJoys]

Same here, this was awesome!

[@BigKlingy]

Totally agree there, I love Strikers' final boss for that reason. As for other RPGs that do that, there's Trails of Cold Steel 4's final boss, although it has a MUCH larger party.

[@Kingdom850]

@@BigKlingy That final boss was insane.

[@LadyVirgilia]

As BigKlingy already commented, Trails of Cold Steel 4 has this, but a couple other games in the same series (Trails of Cold Steel 2 and Trails in the Sky 3rd) also do this! I've always loved this aspect of the series because it always made the "power of friendship" feel tangible via the gameplay.

[@BigKlingy]

@@LadyVirgilia I love final bosses that make you use the whole party. (If only P4 did this so people wouldn't neglect Kanji and Teddie) As far as gameplay "power of friendship" goes, Hi-Fi Rush isn't a JRPG but its final boss requires every party member's abilities.

[@CommRio]

Strikers is a total package fun experience. The spinoff all Persona spinoffs should aspire to reach. Another great video Lady!

[@LadyVirgilia]

Thanks Rio! Strikers was such a blast :,)

[@zeedar412]

Strikers has the best persona awakening scene in the series bar none. Don't wanna spoil it, but that scene alone makes the whole game worth it.

[@parencolonthree]

There's 3

[@robkilbride9242]

The main difference between Palace rulers and Jail Monarch's is that all the Monarch's were victims in some way and that was exploited to convince them to become Monarchs. Hence the differences in the backstories.

[@robkilbride9242]

I loved the Zenkichi/Akane arc! I loved the moment when Akane revealed her concern for the secretary's family as all of us have had moment where we are surprised by the depth of a child's thoughts. His awakening was fantastic as was Sophia's.

[@Zach984racer]

Strikers is my favorite Musou. I loved the game (and 100%'d on maddening...). It does bother me that some fans say it can't be cannon because of Royal, but after replaying it after replaying Royal recently, I think both Strikers and Royal are stronger together. I loved this game, its vibe, its story, its new characters, and its mechanics on the typical Warriors format. It's the only Musou game where I actively try to play as all the characters when I don't have to. To me, this game completed my P5 experience as one of the best I've had in gaming.

[@BigKlingy]

Glad to see more people who like Merciless, I often see it hated on online but as someone who finds New Game Plus boring in most games, I love how there's a mode where you transfer your levels but the enemies are buffed to compensate. Also giving you Zenkichi from the start despite breaking canon (because who cares about that on NG+) There's nothing in Strikers that contradicts Royal, and the end of Royal explains why Violet isn't there. I feel like Crow and Violet's insane popularity in Royal came back to bite Atlus because there's a lot of their fans who refuse to acknowledge anything they're not in (or get mad when they're only in as DLC). Strikers is still amazing regardless of not having Royal's party members.

[@guywithrevolver]

I think they literally only say that because Sumi isn't in the game, even though she's not a member of the phantom thieves or a member of the main group. She's doing her own thing. Sure, they don't mention any of the stuff in the third semester, but like, why would they? That stuff technically never even happened.

[@Kingdom850]

@@guywithrevolver It's also established from minute zero that the jails aren't exactly like palaces, so they have no reason to mention Royal since they're operating under new rules here.

[@_ANDRE.]

Its actually the other way around. Royal isnt canon, however Strikers is. Royal plays in its own universe/timeline similar to FEMC in P3. However Tacticas canonness is hard to say, the DLC of Tactica implies it plays before Saes palace but in Royal, while the actual game takes place after Yaldabaoths defeat since neither TrueAkechi or Sumi are around. And yeah Strikers in Merciless mode was one of the most fun experiences i have had in gaming, that mode alone made the game from a 8/10 into a 9.

[@Kingdom850]

@@_ANDRE. Royal and Strikers didn't reference each other because they were developed at the exact same time. This doesn't make either game canon or non canon. People just assume Royal is canon because the re-release version of these games tend to overtake the original's canon since it's just the original with extra story. Tactica isn't hard to place at all. It's as simple as you just explained it lol

[@sambarber944]

I remember Natsume’s arc and confession in Strikers actually making me tear up when I saw it. As a creative, the idea of being forced to live up to absurdly high expectations and just wanting to make everyone proud really resonated with me. And him breaking down as he offered to refund every book he sold, knowing fully well that this would likely cripple him financially? He truly felt remorseful for his actions and I just wanted to give him a hug.

[@MudkrabLord]

Natsume and the mayor lady (sorry, it's very late for me and I can't remember her name for the life of me) had amazing emotional depth to their stories, and it really gave Yusuke and Haru time to shine that base Persona 5 didn't really give them

[@windy4566]

@@MudkrabLordher name is mariko

[@detectivepancakes3095]

I never personally understood the "not being friends" thing for persona 5, sure, they felt less like a straight friend group then the investigation squad who were basically the scooby gang, but they felt far more like friends then Sees who in my mind, feel like a group of co-workers who just all happen to share one mutual friend, I didn't need the group hangouts with the thieves cause I felt their comradery (the mementos dialogue helped with this a lot) while any group hangout with Sees to me felt like when your mom forces you to invite someone you don't like to your birthday party but can't show it, I felt they all liked Minato and that was it.

[@Orakio]

With SEES they’re essentially coworkers so it makes sense that they don’t come across as a tight friend group.

[@detectivepancakes3095]

@@Orakio Thats my thing, they feel like Co workers, I think the phantom thieves are a good in between of them and the investigation squad

[@reichtanglevictor1694]

​@@detectivepancakes3095what he meant is that SEES are NOT friends, they're comrades

[@date5960]

Sometimes i wonder if people even finish P3 at all. They start off as coworkers but gradually become friends (not best friends but good friends). The PT on the other hand feel less believable as a group of besties.

[@weebcraft6829]

@@date5960 Blame The Answer for that

[@andresf9237]

I've never played strikers, but what I have seen of the group hangouts really makes all of them more human in a way. I also saw Haru's and Yusuke's arc, and I really liked them (but maybe that's just because I love Haru and Yusuke). Great video!

[@LadyVirgilia]

I really love Haru & Yusuke too :,)

[@dantegallardo1974]

I personally enjoyed strikers so much more than tactica. Mainly that comes down to the characters and story being slightly more refined in strikers when you compare tactia. I also felt like strikers was way more challenging than tactia ever was. But at least tactia gameplay was so addicting and was pretty much always fun. Strikers on the other hand, ended up losing it's luster late game and revolved around spamming skills

[@SuperiorPosterior]

Tactica wasn't really trying to be _hard,_ imo. When it was first announced, I saw a lot of people calling it "XCOM meets Persona Q", but Tactica is much more of a puzzle game than a tactical shooter, despite the name. That is just my opinion, though. Tactica feels like the cherry on top of a five-tiered cake; it's not the main event, but a tasteful addition.

[@therealjaystone2344]

@@SuperiorPosteriorthey forget meets Mario + Rabbids too but that game is easier than Mario

[@Sancnea]

Strikers only devolved to spamming on NG+ Merciless. I pretty much completed the entire game through mostly combos on my first playthrough.

[@steam-powereddolphin5449]

I think Strikers combos would be better if holding Attack (🟥on PlayStation controllers) automatically chained melee attacks together for as long as the button was held, and maybe even if holding the Special (🔺on PS) button in combos that use multiple presses of said button would count as multiple presses. E.g., Joker combos enabled by Wild Rush (🟥🟥🟥🟥🟥🔺🔺) would be executed by holding 🟥for 5 slashes, and then 🔺 for a duration equivalent to 2 slashes, instead of pressing the buttons every single time. As a bonus, maybe holding 🟥+ R2 (or equivalent buttons) at the same time would result in the same behavior as alternating between the two (slashing and dashing such as to move more quickly than normal sprinting, if the Phantom Thief being commanded has a fast enough normal attack) but automatically in the optimal rhythm. I'm not entirely sure if it's intentional behavior in the first place, but I argue that it fits what the combat is trying to achieve. (I've heard of a jump-cancelling tactic, I think ❌+ R2 alternating for even faster movement, but it's more precise in execution and I'm even less sure it's intentional movement behavior).

[@aelechdeepestflame4347]

You know what I like about Persona 5 Strikers? The power-scaling actually makes sense (if you ignore losing all of your skills from beating P5 itself) because your skilled, more powerful Phantom Thieves… are fighting armies rather than groups of around 5 enemies.

[@ventusthekey5187]

Strikers is my all time favorite Persona game! It's so nice to see you touch on all the things I think they did right with it. I love Zen and Sophia so much that I was honestly kinda disappointed they don't even reference them in Tactica. I know it couldn't make sense given the time line placement, but they could have been part of the dlc persona pack! I also love that Morgana finished off Tactica by making a cheeky remark about how they should have at least half a year break before something else crazy happens, lol. The writers for these spin offs know what they're doing.

[@GomerJ]

It's interesting hearing that people had that opinion of the base game (I didn't know anyone playing it when it released), because I never got the sense they didn't feel like friends. Rather to me it always felt like it was the kind of bond that didn't necessarily need to be explicitly stated or put on display, forged by what they went through/overcame together. And it's kinda why I still prefer the base ending to Royal, because THAT was finally the opportunity for them to have a moment to just be high schoolers and make some better memories. (I also loved how Strikers was a natural extension of the base P5 ending). It maybe also helped that base P5 was my first Persona so I didn't have a comparison point to 4 at the time? They always still felt really close to me, it was just a process in getting there. Just in a different way than say the cast of 4 who are kind of an already established friend circle that Yu is adopted into (before growing larger later). I think part of the idea of 5 is that it is a bunch of loners who are slowly figuring out how to open up to and be accepted by others so to me it's a very natural progression to Strikers where they're now having the kinds of hangouts and fun memories you'd expect from teenagers. None of them really had that before and I think it showed them growing more comfortable and finally being comfortable expressing and embracing letting other people in.

[@Kaisona2017]

I always thought of the Phantom Thieves as friends, but I felt like they never got to just hang out and be casual, as a group. Whenever they did a group hang out, it would always get ruined, somehow, or came back to them talking about Phantom Thief stuff, and it made parts of the game a bore to sit through. That’s why I appreciate getting to see the Phantom Thieves act more casual in Strikers.

[@harrybechtle4333]

6:00 ironically, i had the exact opposite in p4G. There were a lot of scenes that were there just to be typical anime high school slock, and i…really didn’t care for them. As for the pt not being friends, i think it’s more so that their friendship is largely scene through the jobs as phantom theives

[@jesserivera2043]

I definitely love how they progressed their characters, but I also wish they put more emphasis on their heist roles from the base games. On one hand I loved how they allowed Ann to evolve past her "cool girl" role, and they allowed Yusuke to progress pass the "weird guy" role. But wouldn't it be so badass if Haru and Joker infiltrated a black tie event, with Haru in an updo hairstyle and black dress navigating her way around high society? She can even give Joker a makeover and buy him a suit to make it feel like a scene right out of a James Bond movie. Putting her more in that "insider spy" role feels more fulfilling than giving her the quirk of nonchalantly saying unsettling things with a smile. Maybe throw in a scene where it's just the two of them in a subsection of a dungeon with them fighting their way out after the cover's been blown.

[@tavoreparan8091]

Agree. That would've been really smart. And the purpose of the event would've been a private fundraiser. I think the main problem with the idea is that it introduces a ton of rich people who you're *not* stealing from, and I think that runs counter to the overall Phantom Thief vibe. And if you *did* heist from them all, the personal connection to Mariko would get fairly diluted, and I wouldn't say it was a very strong story to begin with.

[@fink_rat]

Despite my teasing of Zucchini Hasegawa, he is one of my favorite thieves behind Skull. It's always nice to see a fresh face react to everything, and even get their own awakening. Also he is a mainstay in my Strikers party.

[@VermilionRen]

It's basically the sequel to the OG Persona 5 and I love that.

[@casualmusicnerd]

I wouldn’t say this video gave me a better appreciation of Strikers as most of my issues with that game are with the gameplay and design, I liked the story and loved how they handled the characters, but it did make me appreciate Royal more. I think you’re right in that even for those of us who played base P5, we still might take for granted the little additions Royal made that really do add up.

[@BigKlingy]

Could you explain your issues with Strikers' gameplay in detail? I'm interested to know.

[@davidt4827]

I’m playing through strikers right now, I found it at good price recently. When it first came out I hadn’t played p5 in any capacity, and at the time it felt like a burn that we got this as opposed to royal on switch first, mostly in my case because I’m not fond of dynasty warrior style games. I’m glad I gave this game a chance now. I absolutely love it, I think combat is far more interesting than other games like it, and the story is pretty fun. I agree, the moment Ryuji and Morgana told off the AI, that was powerful. Zenkichi is also a cool character, some of it being that he’s closer to my age (and that maybe I could cosplay him), he’s an interesting character in his own right. And overall, I like the road-trip vibe, just feels so fun going to new places, and I like how Joker is head chef. I feel compelled to ask though, is rotating hot springs time that common in Japan? I can’t help but feel like the whole hot springs thing could be avoided if there were separate baths, which did exist earlier (but not at the fancy hotel). I can just imagine being a guy going into a bath at 7:56, didn’t notice the rotation happens at 8, and now suddenly you hear a bunch of women coming in, just can’t be a good time. It’s like someone swapped the bathroom sign while you were in there and somehow the person in there originally is now some kind of pervert. Feels forced.

[@tavoreparan8091]

I don't think the rotating time thing is real at all, tbh. There are mixed-gender hot springs, and there are segregated-gender hot springs, and AFAICT, that's it.

[@ScorbunGame]

Persona 5 strikers does something that I feel a lot of the other spinoffs fail to do, actually expand on Persona 5's themes in a meaningful way. It takes the concept of the Metaverse and uses it to explore the reality that not everyone who abuses power is a irredeemable piece of garbage, sometimes people become monsters because of the pain the world forces them to endure. The Jail Monarchs are all tragic figures that are lashing out and forcing everyone to indulge in their unhealthy fixation on themselves, thinking it's justified because they suffered first. Strikers shows that people pushed to their breaking point can be even more dangerous then a evil basterd who thinks their untouchable.

[@SuperiorPosterior]

27:01 Funnily enough, I co-authored a P5 fanfic where Sae gets a Persona (Irene Adler from _Sherlock Holmes),_ and the codename Ace (to parallel Queen and Joker). Her weapon was a sniper rifle with a bayonet, so it could pull double-duty as a spear.

[@SuperiorPosterior]

On a somewhat related note, Strikers brings the action of the Phantom Thieves in line with how most fanfic authors write battles. Ducking and dodging, hit and run tactics, fast-paced fights where they put both meanings of the word "slay!" to use.

[@graey.catrat]

>character is a prosecutor >nicknamed Ace ...IS THIS A FRICKIN ACE ATTORNEY REFERENCE?!?! 😳😳😳

[@Gwen1661]

It's funny. The "the PT don't feel like friends" take always made me laugh because this is exactly how I feel about the P4 cast, which I know sounds insane but after watching let's plays of P4G several times, sure I can buy that they're decent friends but I never got the true 'friend' vibe, you know. On the other hand, I didn't have this problem with the PT. Despite vanilla's flaws handling screentime for everyone, the experiences they went through as a team was more than enough for me to believe their bond. Plus, do we really need to validate friendships on whether or not they hang out a lot?? Anyway, I can sort of understand why so many people feel this way but that criticism always felt silly to me.

[@lemonov3031]

Persona fans sure don't play their own fucking games, alright

[@tavoreparan8091]

I agree, though I'm suspicious that part of it is a cultural lens thing. If there's anything I've learned from Lady's videos, it's that there's cultural difference stuff I'm gonna miss. Still, P4's group feels more like a bunch of kids who got drafted onto the same long-term school project.

[@CelestiaLily]

I grant P4G with the dubious honour of "they certainly feel like ""friends"", but the toxic immature friend group that enables belittling & antagonizing as "just part of the dynamic! what, you hate fun? cmon take a joke😘" With all the fuss about how Morgana & Ryuji's conflict was handled, at least they had final straws they're willing to break the friendship over. Sometimes P4's casual cruelty amazes me (Yukiko using Kanji's poor attendance record to force him into crossdressing -- and that's so minor it's a 5-second gag in the entire beauty pageant trainwreck). For the whole team literally witnessing each others' deepest insecurities, P4 sure goes "if they're not around Nanako, absolutely nothing is too far in the name of pranks, roasts, embarrassment, quippy comebacks, or getting even". I don't know small-town living that well, but I know the writing premise of "a wide range of people all sharing the same insular environment no matter how different they are" comes with the strengths of forcing all these eclectic personalities to bounce off each other in fun ways. But realistically, I'd kinda want the P4 team to each have that adult experience of "oh I can just leave? and find other people?? and experience friendgroups that are a bit more chill???" for their own emotional sanity😅

[@nightwish1453]

@@CelestiaLily there are parts of 5's group dynamic that few bring it up in the topic of "friends" and those are the slapstick moments, and those feel very out of place and random especially how the next scene it's like it never happened like the ending of shido's palace or the bathouse scene with makoto the fact they happen pretty far in those games feels off and a bit questionable on their maturity. p4's group dynamic does have that similar beat by beat as 3's where there is that hostility but as you progress those scenes you slowly see less of and when you get to the end like valentines and the final dungeon you don't see those scenes and in the spinoffs like dancing and arena they don't seem that negative to eachother

[@treywilliams1388]

I love how it takes the phantom thieves’s arcs from the original, expands on it, allowing them to use the lessons they’ve learned to help others grow and change for the better. It’s no secret that the bosses in this game are meant to mirror the ones in base P5 but where those guys were pretty much irredeemable the ones on this game still have a path forward, it’s almost like they’re seeing past versions of their antagonists and helping them set themselves on the right path

[@platypusnoise]

Strikers was my first Persona game, then 5 Royale, 4 Golden, then eventually 3 Reload, yeah i know a weird order. Strikers is such a blast. It really feels like the perfect introduction to Persona. The friend group was the ultimate part. I constantly didn't want the trip to end and the ending generally made me depressed living my friends. Also Shadow Akira battle is the most badass thing I've ever seen

[@Hello-bg8hv]

The oh the phantom thieves aren't friends critique is exclusively from Persona 4 Fans that dont have friends IRL and were so attached to those characters

[@The810kid]

Yeah Persona 4 fans think if the characters aren't having whacky anime hijinks then characters aren't friends.

[@omeiga]

i love that ryuji said the fuck word peak of the entire game

[@ITrulyDontExist]

I kept looking at Yusuke pins, artwork of him and leveling up his confidant during the time I played the base persona 5 game that I completely forgot he was almost nowhere in the actual main storyline after Madarame's palace 💀

[@ilavain]

Strikers at points feels like a better game than P5 to me. Which is incredible for a spinoff-sequel.

[@Vasiliosx2]

As a person who plays a lot of games, strikers has been on my radar since release, but there are so many other games that were higher up on my priorities (including p5 royal as I only played og P5) Thanks for the video

[@adrianarballo179]

Honestly I'm hoping like what they did for Royal and persona 4 arena ultimax they'll give persona 5 strikers an enhance version. Because honestly the game was super fun and it it would be interesting to see how enhanced version of it would and if characters like sumire and maruki made an appearance.

[@forTehMemes]

Strikers was such a badass game. The gameplay and music were so damn fun. And the story was really heartfelt and showed even more love to the Phantom Thieves with their interactions and how they spent time together. Out of all the spin offs Strikers is definitely my favorite. It was a fun platinum go for as well, the game saved my mental health during the latter half of the pandemic

[@TiefseeToaster]

20:06 I didn't get how makoto got to be such a big fan favorite. sure, she was cute at times, but it felt too much of a watchful mother figure than a friend/girlfriend type. i would have rather seen some more of Haru at that point. and yusuke felt not integrated enough. sure, his trope was to be the out-of-touch elegant weirdo, but something was missing. funny enough how his face/hair design reminded me of the early persona games. as if he actually was out of that world

[@gilmulth]

Uhhh, a Striker Video? Loved this game so I'm hyped to watch your video!

[@gilmulth]

So after the end: Yeah, got the feeling to connect more with the cast and I were happy that they got their Roadtrip. Understandable that the third semester content didn't "exist" (how could the programing team would know it), but as an excuse Kasumi and Akechi would be very busy I guess. Yeah, the Maruki-fight/ happenings doesn't got called like in Tactica ( Iiirc it got called out as a one-liner) but I thought it is alright. I'm more sad that they didn't make a DLC/ updates with some Royal-thingies (like catch-up-third-semester-storytelling) but because of the tight day-counter and the tight end I guess it couldn't be working.

[@baalgodofrain]

19:27 and his Father in the social link, like it's the equivalate of the homophobic remarks thrown at Kanji or Ann being stupidly overly sexualised for 'fanservice' despite her trauma with Kamoshida, so yeah, big mega yikes from the writing team But other then that, I love this game so much, I wish we can see Zenkichi in a sequal game like a Arena spinoff if possible so hopes to see more adult persona users

[@bonegamerthecyndaquill7181]

I honestly most liked strikers for the sole fact that Merciless ACTUALLY doesn't fuck around. Like, you can actually die in the tutorial even at almost max level from a NG+ file. That's some SERIOUS difficulty thrown the player's way instead of P5R's Merciless essentially being the new easy mode and P5T's Merciless... well, barely changing anything, at least for me. Props for making an actual challenge in terms of Merciless, P5S devs.

[@_ANDRE.]

Dude i remember thinking that NewGame+ on Merciless is gonna be a breeze and id drop it after the first Jail, until i got one shot by a Pixie in the tutorial. That moment instantly hooked me and made me play through Merciless 3 times in a row. Legit one of the most fun experiences i ever had.

[@colinmunro3158]

I really empathize with the video essayists mention of such struggles in high school. For my entire life my mother has been in and out of the psych ward, and on top of that nearly died from a 14 month battle with a bacterial infection early in my life. Even harder, I'm on the Autism spectrum and didn't have any true friends at school until I was in high school, and what a difference it made. Unlike many post-secondary students, I'm still in regular contact with my friends from high school and they still form the core of my social life. One doesn't truly appreciate having friends until they have to go without, or until such friendship is put to the test.

[@thewewguy8t88]

Royal adds the optional scene where every female confident beats you up if you try to date all of them at once lol

[@PrincelyMage]

As someone who’s only experienced Royal, I still am absolutely loving Strikers and I adore the things they added to it! I love being able to hear little discussions with the other members. And I sense a pattern in the jails and monarchs. They’re kind of reflections of the thieves if they had gone down the wrong path. Ya know. I really enjoy your analysis videos though! I’m playing through P5S, P3P, and P4G after getting them for Christmas. While I am enjoying P3P and P4G, I resonate more and relate to the P5 cast more. And the game really helped me during a really hard period in 2023.

[@shaterlemming2549]

My first playthrough of base P5 I didn't even realize Haru had a social link lol

[@tatsumitwi348]

My favorite persona 5 conspiracy is that Royal and Strikers were made with the exact same specifications. New Attractive brunette Cognitive Science Villain in a lab coat, new party member is a redheaded Bless character relevant to the final villain, filling in the wholes in vanilla P5s weaknesses and oversights, etc. They version differences are kinda hilariously like they came from the same template

[@bukalayzx]

I have to say, I disagree about some points. Everyone in the PT got so much love in Strikers, barring one, and that's Ryuji. His lack of narrative presence or connection to the Jails Rulers was overshadowed by him actually being able to drop the f bomb. Even if you view the Okumura and Shido arcs as some sort of narrative presence for Ryuji, he got the short end of the stick considering how those arcs really shined a negative light to Ryuji. But back to Strikers, Everyone got a connection to the Jail Rulers, Anne with Alice, Yusuke with Natsume, Haru with Mariko, Makoto with Akane, heck Futaba herself has more of a connection to Ichinose. We could have had that with Ryuji and Akira, considering that Ryuji's confidant also delves into his abusive father, like how Akira also had an abusive father, but I think Akira was made into a parallel to Shido and subsequently giving more connection to Akechi than Ryuji, leaving Ryuji with nothing. No narrative presence, if both Makoto and Futaba were in the backseat, Ryuji's at the backseat of another car. It was really one of my main gripes of Strikers. As for another, there was another hotsprings event where the beat 'em up didn't happen, you get to compliment Ryuji's abs too (almost typed in ass lol)

[@tavoreparan8091]

I'd agree, but I think saying Akira is a parallel for Akechi is a pretty big stretch, IMO. He's an Akechi only in the sense that he's a dark mirror of Joker. OTOH, I think an argument can be made for Ubukata being Ryuji's connection, because that story arc was really about reclaiming a sense of purpose, which is Ryuji's and Morgana's thing. Ryuji's P5 story is about deciding to run again, and Morgana's is about figuring out what he is and why he exists, and the Okinawan Jail is basically about Ubukata learning why his project exists and Sophia running off to find her purpose. It's definitely not as strong as the other connections, though, and I'd concede he got shortchanged.

[@bukalayzx]

@@tavoreparan8091 the reason why I think Akira is connected to Akechi is the fact that I think Akira's plot points mirrors that of Akechi's from the motivation to the actual vengeful deed, that motivation being the loss of their mothers. However you put it, Akira will always be connected to Akechi but we could have had scenes where Ryuji was affected considering the history of physical abuse and the unmet expectations. The Okinawan Jail is only connected to Morgana tho, considering Sophie's and Morgana's respective amnesia and how gaining those memories, or a connection to them, was beneficial to their respective characters. I just realized this but, notice how Akira's and Akechi are kind of similar when it comes to weapons? Akira has a gundam-esque robot he could pilot like a mech and has armor similar to that of heroes from the tokusatsu genre (Akira's reference is Metal Heroes) and Akechi has laser guns and lightsabers. Both weapons are things you buy for a kid.

[@izzy1356]

​@@tavoreparan8091 They kinda *are* parallels though... If it wasn't for him meeting Morgana, Joker wouldn't have known about Changes of Hearts *at all.* And after Shiho was taken to the hospital, the group already had the mindset of "who cares if the CoH kills Kamoshida, he needs to pay." *Their mindset was exactly the same as Akechi's,* and they only lucked out in not becoming murderers because of *Morgana's information,* and Ann deciding that Kamoshida living with the guilt was a *worse punishment.* If it wasn't for them being told there was a second option that didn't involved killing the shadow, there's a *very* good chance Joker would've just become another Akechi. And similarly, if Akechi had met Morgana at any earlier point (especially before Shido), he could've steered him away from the bloody path he ended up going. He could've told him there was a second option, something Akechi *even drops the prince facade in realization over* during the School Festival. They were both one coincidental meeting with a cat away from following the other's path.

[@tavoreparan8091]

@@izzy1356 Yes. Akechi is a dark mirror of Joker. That isn't in dispute.

[@thatbluegamet]

The reason why Striker’s is so great is because of Sophia. She’s probably my favourite Persona 5 character

[@tavoreparan8091]

Humanity's Companion!

[@MikeMovesPLK]

Im playing thus right now its more dope than i would have assumed lol

[@Irish_Enderman]

The 3 P5 games (Royal, Strikers and Tactica) are all some of my favourite games of all time and Strikers is probably my favourite of the 3 I'm sure that's gonna be a somewhat controversial opinion but I genuinely love everything about it Also Konoe is one of, if not my favourite villains of all time, the conversation the thieves have with him after his boss, the fight itself, that backstory, his boss music & boss design, atlus really outdid themselves with him in every aspect Edit: I love all of the thieves but the new characters added in P5S and P5T are some of my favourites among the phantom theives, especially Zenkichi and Erina, those 2 are probably my favourite P5 characters period

[@matthewputre7305]

This is indeed criminally underrated. With Sophia and Zenkichi, the much better antagonists, the awesome new play style and everything else, I enjoyed Strikers every bit as much as the original P5!

[@jwil1977]

I loved Strikers. So hoping Sophia and Zenkichi will be DLC characters in Tactica at some point. It would be great to have them recognized.

[@Plasmacat1]

Hello, I really enjoyed your videos and this one was welcomed since imo this is the best written Persona of the bunch because they don’t speak like robots most of the time. Conversations seem way more fluid. On a side note about someone older not being able to relate to teens I don’t think it’s about lacking empathy, it’s more about having more room for other things to explore. Relationships, marriage, work life balance, self expression vs conforming to being “grown up”, loneliness and difficulty making friends as an adult, etc. There’s so many times you can recycle the same teen anime tropes Persona uses for characters and while I feel for them I want more as someone in his 30s. It’s like Spider-Man movies having him as a teen all the time and not an adult which add a lot of interesting plot points.

[@molde1969]

That exasperated look on your face when you slowly realize what the hot springs scene is going to entail. Priceless lmao

[@chrysanthemum8098]

I had an experience very similar to yours. For the past five years, my dad has been bedridden and i alone have been his caretaker. Im fifteen now, and freshman year is ending soon. He died in February after spending two weeks in the hospital. I had gotten to live in our apartment by myself for those two weeks. He had gone because he had pains around his heart and he was very concerned. Before he went, we had aruged late into the night before. He told me i was a failure. He told me he was disappointed in me. One week at the hospital, he had a massive heart attack and went non-responsive, but was revived. He was in a coma like state for a while. But after about five days of that, he started signaling and showing that he could understand people. I never once got to talk to him. He died and the last memory i have of him was him yelling at me. I have good memories with him, because he was good most of the time. But the last memory is what sticks with me.

[@thegarydosesales5043]

you giving your own story during this video was great what an amazing video now i HAVE to replay strikers

[@BlazeNextGen]

Strikers was my very first dive into Persona 5 games as they weren´t aviable on the Switch and seeing how the characters shine in Strikers, made me like them alot and the adition of Zenkichi was honestly cool as hell. Love this game to bits

[@raithnor6007]

The vibe from Strikers is a cross between Scooby-Doo and the A-team with a dash of Knight Rider. Which is awesome.

[@bodacious12]

Your comment on the photos made me tear up a bit because I don't have any such good memories or photos of that time :(

[@pengie-gw2lu]

Something I always felt is that while P5's palace rulers were designed to be characterizations of societal issues, Strikers' monarchs were designed to be demonstrations of how normal people can be driven to that point, and show how the Phantom Thieves' attempts to reform society have shifted from "take down the evil guys" to "help the evil guys' victims before they're so far gone as to become evil themselves". None of the changes of heart in the Monarchs that the Thieves bring about has a supernatural element like stealing their treasure, it's always reminding them of who they want to be, and giving them the encouragement they've been lacking to become that person.

[@The810kid]

Sophia is Megan Taylor Harvey's 2nd most adorable character she has voiced.

[@kierenbuckley370]

all fans talk about when it comes to Strikers is "is Strikers cannon or non cannon"

[@marecaelomiscere]

Haru from the start of the game = masterpiece

[@Ballard258]

10:29 I get the feeling the critique of "the phantom Thieves rarely got time to hang out" Comes from a lot of persona 4 golden players. The investigation teem got a LOT more downtime and interactions with echother independent from the player

[@hearnow7290]

I bought Strikers just because it was on sale but in the end I ended up loving it way more than I thought I would and its one of my top persona games now. Its good such a good story, great new characters (it made me enjoy the phantom thieves a bit more as well), and still had personas amazing soundtrack. So sad that its forgotten and has always been a bit underrated its a perfect sequel :C

[@Adamu98]

The ending to strikers made me sad because it reminded me of my hs friend group going our own ways after we graduated. You can't get better storytelling than that.

[@TiefseeToaster]

18:28 i was so happy when p5r didn't force the full-on hot springs scene on you. not just atlus, but that seems to be SUCH a trope in any anime-ish medium

[@lucasn0tch]

Even Atlus thinks it was underappreciated to the fact that they didn't even make the PC port playable on anything newer than 11th-gen Intel Core processors.

[@jamesnall6462]

I know I'm late on this one, but that story with your friends helping you during your struggle kinda hit home when you got to the part where you mentioned your group's Ann taking photos. Being autistic, I often had, and continue to have, trouble getting out and being part of my friend group beyond seeing each other at school or work, and as such, I have few memories of them beyond that. I also have always had an aversion to taking my picture taken (I've never been sure why. It just makes me feel awful to have someone aim a camera or phone at me and snap a picture). So the pictures I do appear in with friends and family are few and far between. Nowadays, I somewhat regret this; for a lot of my closest friends whom I fell out of contact with, I don't have anything to remember them by beyond my memories themselves, which have begun to fade. It makes me wish I had pushed myself when I felt uncomfortable doing these things so that I could have a few mementos (haha funny) to remember them by.

[@RickySama240]

I finished Person 5 Strikers a couple months ago. Really love the combat, story and especially the music! Somehow the musicians made the vocal songs even more amazing! 😁

[@DeeFig66]

I wrote this in ThoughBubble's video about Ryuji in Striker BUT.... SPOILERS FOR Persona 5 Strikers: . .. As soon was we learned of Konoe's trauma I INSTANTLY thought of Ryuji! Since Kanoe just wanted people to shut up & listen to him like his dad did, Ryuji would have used himself as an example of someone who really became different. The TRUE and already initialized spirit of rebellion (pre-Joker) who faced his hardship alone & came out of it as a person willing to do everything he could to help the victims of abuse. (His fervor to save the kids being physically abused by Kamoshida can't be ignored.) They really did do him dirty by not having a character he connected to. A simple speech about not becoming what you despise would have really hit home, I think. AND the fact that Kanoe was weak to Zio attacks just makes the missed opportunity for the connection even more of a blow! Also, it felt like Ryuji was the most enthusiastic about beating Kanoe but it was never acknowledged by anyone in the group & I swear, it felt like they had to remind Zenkichi that he was mad. Ryuji's blow up for Sophia & hard F would have been perfection Konoe's jail. I used Ryuji 70% of the time for both phases of that fight & it was so easy, he was hardly a final(ish) boss. HE WAS WEAK TO ZIO. Just like how Alice was weak to Agio, Ango weak to Bufu & Mariko weak to Psy, Cog Joker to Almighty... this shit writes itself.

[@jonathankamysek7998]

honestly this is a perfect sequel and the p5 era needs to end with a sequel to that specially after what happened with Tatica plus the paint your heart DLC plus i love how the fighting is cause it's better then the turn based :)

[@ugmo0722]

Persona 5 strikers isn’t a sequel to persona 5 royal lore wise . It’s a sequel to the base game not the extra semester stuff

[@CritikalJari]

Strikers is one of my favourite Persona games, the crew got its much needed development and they finally felt like actual friends the only Persona 5 game better then it is the royal additions. Like they felt like forced together and barely could imagine them as friends outside of the plot happening, strikers however yeh those are friends for life they care and know eachother, suprise each other with a gift or something I feel like its the fact that my fav is p4g is why I like strikers so much. Now I just need atlus to make a p2 remake or just port, because gd its one top 3 in Persona easy

[@chimecho2964]

14:27 I remembered Haru solely because of her lack of screen time

[@KillaCheeto56]

P5S was goddamn spectacular. Being a fan of Musou games, finding out that P5S was a Musou spinoff, got me very excited. I honestly wish I could erase my memory of the game so I could experience it again for the first time. Zenkichi and Sophia were fantastic additions to the game. Both of their awakenings freakin incredible. Especially Sophia's, every time I hear her scream out Pandora, I get chills. And we can't talk about a Persona game and forget to mention the music. Daredevil, Counter Strike, and Singularity are the three that stick out the most for me. I would love it if we got more Persona games with the gameplay of a Musou title. But first, gimme a new Persona Arena.

[@robkilbride9242]

I played Royal earlier this year and grew to love the theme "New Beginning" because it played at some of the best times these kids got to have in their very stressful lives. I didn't quite catch it until I read the cd soundtrack liner notes, with the help of google translate, but a triumphant version of "New Beginning" appears as part of the track "Our Beginning" which plays as Joker awakens to Satanael which is the moment the kids finally overcome all their obstacles. It's an amazing musical moment because you're so happy for them. I loved it when "New Beginning" played in Strikers and got a similar feeling when "To the South" and "Have a Break in the South" played in Okinawa. Very cool we got day an night versions. Really captured the feeling of the kids having some well deserved fun. These tracks are in stark contrast to the desolation of the jail theme of Okinawa "Singularity" which was absolutely chilling.

[@JetBazooka21]

This game was tricking really good man the story and characters like Haru and Yusuke getting more spot light was very welcome. Also the OST goes hard

[@ag9953]

I think the point of the Strikers villains in relation to those in the original is that anyone can be a villain, that the people who were ruined by the villains in the first game could just as easily become villains themselves if they lost themsleves in their despair, the villains in Strikers were victims of the evils of others, and they failed to rise above that, becoming evil themselves.

[@prodskimaya]

Just started P5S after completing P5R for the 2nd time, I’m very excited to experience more social events with the PTeam! Even though I’ve only played the Royal version, I can understand the complaint of the PTeam not seeming very close; I’ve always had a slight preference for the older games (P3P and P4G) because of this. Video was great & thought provoking, but I’ll have to finish it later to avoid spoilers!

[@SomeAsian]

The fact that Haru, Ann and Yusuke get SOOOO much more relevance and Makoto and Futaba get to sit back and relax in Strikers is the best part of Strikers.

[@Umbrox-57]

I got into the Persona series through Royal and that has become an all time Top 10 game for me. Strikers was an excellent sequel in terms of never having played the original. Learning that was less interactions and less of a friendship dynamic in the original is wild to me. And having learned that both Royal and Strikers were being made at the same time makes the endgame story more sense to me. Loved how the expanded on the group dynamic and they gave Yusuke and Haru more time to shine. Plus, as a fan of hack and slash games, this was also right up my alley. And of course, like Royal, the OSTs a banger too

[@tyriquesmith8850]

I may send this to Johne Awesome because I know he's not the biggest fan of Strikers, but I think it's mostly about the gameplay rather than the story.

[@alex.9398]

Great work as always

[@Luke-hd3jm]

Very underrated channel keep up the good work

[@FalkenKnight]

I completely agree! I was so surprised that they chose a Dynasty Warriors style but I really liked it especially because it is still unique and Persona-esque. I played FEWarriors, FEWarriors3H and Hyrule Warriors and they are all different from each other. I also freaking love Zenkichi, he's our police dad lol, and I was so shook when he became a party member! I also just wanted to add that P5Strikers/Scramble, despite not really making it a focus in marketing, did such a great job in humanising Sophia even though she was an AI. In having Ren try to explain human emotions to Sophia, not only is she learning just how complicated humans are, but also we are trying to almost explain it to ourselves when picking dialogue options. I was constantly talking to myself whenever Sophia asked a question, for example when trying to explain the anger but also sympathy we can have towards someone. It kind of parallels my and I believe many others' feelings towards Akechi and Maruki. Unlike other games that didn't explore deep enough into what makes androids or AI similar to humans, P5Strikers/Scramble managed to do that with Sophia while still letting us think about us as complex humans with complex emotions that even we can't entirely explain.

[@AdrienPyke]

Strikers was such a vibe. They really nailed the feeling of going on a road trip with the homies

[@spadaces]

As someone who's favorite character actually is Morgana, P5s was just so good to me. His dynamic with Ryuji in this game is all I've ever wanted since base game P5 - they bicker, but you can tell it's not from a place of malice and they genuenily care about each other. So many of the traits that (in my opinion) often drags Morgana's character down, also just felt way more toned down for most of the game, which I was so thankful for. I love you p5strikers characterizations

[@LigayasJoys]

Thank you so much! Strikers was amazing once I got past the mess which is the Dynasty Warriors musou gameplay/realtime combat it draws from and its developers Koei Tecmo are known for. When I listened to the Japanese dialogue of Strikers, it seemed to have a broad hint of the 3rd Semester in Royal. However, the original game is what drew me to the P5 franchise (it's my comfort game because I did lose someone to the prison system in Asia), so I am so happy you addressed that. I wanted to take the chance to let you know that I have immensely enjoyed your commentary about these games. Thank you for the work you do, and I hope you stay well. Lots of us have had health issues in 2023, so here's hoping 2024 is better for us!

[@LigayasJoys]

PS my eyes have vastly different grades plus I have astigmatism so yeah, musou/realtime combat took a LOT of getting used to.

[@BorntoOrnn]

I think an important detail to the real difference between Palace rulers and Jail rulers that also justifies why the ones in Strikers get sympathetic stories while the ones in P5 don't is simply that the ones in P5 had other chances. They could have taken other paths, nothing nor no one was telling them to do the things they did. Kamoshida didn't do what he did because someone told him to, Madarame didn't let Yusuke's mom die and then steal her painting because someone else told him to do it. In Strikers, every Jail ruler is, in one way or another, someone who was broken and, when the pivotal moment of making a choice between simply getting back up or lying down was coming up, "someone" showed up and gave them a third, much worse option, which they end up picking out of desperation. In other words, I believe P5 showcases the people who create the abusive environments that lead to the creation of people like the villains in Strikers. That's the difference, at least the way I see it.

[@VibeDPyro]

Strikers does feel like a great final Hoorah for the Phantom Thieves, a final journey for the crew by tying up some loose ends and adding to Yusuke and Haru’s character before the (presumable) end of the phantom thieves operations as the P6 game looks in the distance. I really liked the addition of Sophia and Zenkichi, they added to the crew in meaningful ways. My only complaint is how we will likely not see the P5S characters in any future P5 spinoffs, unless they make a strikers 2 which I will be happy for.

[@curabletoxin]

Whoever had control over the plot, mustve really loved Haru (AKA Floof) And i cant blame them

[@36inc]

i see alot of power rangers energy in the cast. ima toku fan too so the immediate parallel is lupinranger. joker even makes for a the more confident red suits you see in lupin ranger. only occassionaly self doubting when the enemy cheats, i never felt they werent friends but the added homeliness of royal is refreshing.

[@36inc]

also theres an adult persona user in every game in p3 its takaya in p4 its good ol adachi and p5 you get the good doctor/ i mean maruki. i dont know if theres something too why all adult persona users happen to be corrupted is a consistent part but yeah poor takaya getting forgotten.

[@volpe2077]

You love to see it, a 30-minute LadyVirgilia video on Strikers! Heck yeah!!

[@cristiangomezmontt6248]

I thank Strikers for giving Haru the screentime and chacater development she utterly deserved

[@aceric1646]

I didn't even notice that yusuke fell off cause I relate to him the most out of all the p5 cast that I automatically thought about him actively throughout the game.

[@Sandy-ik1ic]

I absolutely love so much about strikers. The road trip was fun, the new characters were awesome, the gameplay was amazing, NG+ was actually phenomenal, and not half assedly tacked on like it is in the mainline games, and perhaps my favorite part about it was that I avoided all spoilers waiting for the western release, and I didn’t even know that the game was a road trip with more than one dungeon until I played it myself. I seriously thought the whole thing was gonna take place in the same Shibuya map until I beat Alice. When I say my mind was blown I am not exaggerating. That enhanced the experience for me so much it’s hard to put into words