Persona 5: Strikers
You know the deal by now friends. This post contains some spoilers for Persona 5: Strikers which I have sandwiched with horizontal lines. There's also some Royal spoilers in there if you're planning on playing that. If you want to go into Strikers completely blind, it might be a good idea skip this one.
This last year has been terrible. Absolutely awful. I think that I'm only beginning to realise this going into 2021. It's not been great. A lot of us who got through it with most of their brain matter intact did lots of nerd shit such as "play Animal Crossing" or "scream into the void" or "not start a stupid website as a joke". For me, it was Persona.
I didn't realise it at the time, but Persona lets you settle into a routine. No matter what is happening outside of the game, it's there to accommodate you. If you aren't feeling it then you can just run through a few days; go to the Café and drink the Kindness soup or hang out with one of your friends perhaps. Likewise, if you want to ignore everything that's happening outside right now then you can dive into the Metaverse for hours upon end, fighting demons with the boys and changing the hearts of the corrupt.
The trick that props all of this up is that Persona somehow feels very real. In between the whole magical demons and fighting God thing, there is something very earthly about Persona and it's something that not a lot of video games have. In what game can you just... do some homework? Read a book on the train? Learn how to make the perfect cup of coffee? Persona is a very comfortable game to play. It demands nothing from the player. There isn't any particular time where I'm going to feel challenged. There are times where the player has very little need for interaction at all.
At the centre of Persona lies its characters. Persona is the ultimate example of video games having a long way to go when it comes to telling a story. Instead of being a tool for the player or a throwaway plot device, the characters of Persona are fully fleshed out human beings. They have flaws. Sometimes you'll disagree with them. Sometimes you'll find them annoying. Sometimes they are called Futaba. A big chunk of Persona is helping these characters out. They all have obstacles to overcome: an artist in a slump; a disgraced politician fighting for a better future; a tough guy struggling with expressing himself. It is up to you to guide these characters to become the best versions of themselves and yet they are still their own person. You don't have control over them. There's a bit in Persona 5: Strikers where you are on the road. It's a conversation between Zenkichi, a detective and the daughter of one who was killed, Makoto. It starts with Zenkichi trying to discourage Makoto from following in his footsteps of entering the police force and then meanders into whether Makoto missed her dad when he was out working, clearly showing concern for the daughter of his own. She doesn't really give much of an answer. Your character has very little input into this conversation - it just happens. It's between two tired people who have been through their own struggles. It's a humanising moment for Zenkichi, a character who the player may hesitate to trust so far and also presses the issue of whether this is truly the path Makoto wants to take in her life (more on that later) and is easily one of the best parts of the game
That's ridiculous! It's literally just a conversation between two people that you see all the time in movies and books or whatever. But because it's a video game, it's a special moment. Seriously, try and think of a video game in the popular conscious (even Persona is pushing that definition) where a seemingly mundane conversation takes place between two characters and one of them isn't the player character. I genuinely can't think of one.
Anyway sorry about that, let's talk about Persona 5 Strikers.
You and your friends from Persona 5, The Phantom Thieves, after having (supposedly) changed society and fought God, meet up again for the summer holiday where you plan on kicking about with all sorts of cool crimes such as eating Japanese food or going to Osaka. Unfortunately, some magical magic happens and the metaverse that you fought so hard to keep closed is back again - this time in the form of EMMA, a sort of Siri knock off. Anyway it turns out some bad people are knocking about and you have to stop them... again... it's Persona 5... again. But this time you're on a road trip! It's pretty good.
First of all, I'm not talking about the combat. I could not be less interested. That's right, we're going full Polygon. It's politics in the Philippines time. I just set the difficulty to easy and pressed X on my controller a few times. Job done. There's a John Carmack quote that gets thrown around by nerds all the time - "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.". Well I'm going to present that same argument for combat in a Persona game. I can understand why it's there, but it serves no interest to me at all. It would be a worse game without it, but I simply don't have the inclination to wrangle with any of the systems on offer. It's even more annoying this time around because I have to remember button combinations and stuff. No thanks.
And politics in the Philippines indeed. I'm even more loathe to give a recommendation to a video game than usual, because it's absolutely pointless. You either don't care about Persona in which case I wouldn't recommend this at all (thanks for reading though!), or you've already purchased three copies, got every achievement and are now doing any% speedruns to attack and dethrone God. Instead, let's talk about some of the cool things that Persona 5 Strikers does. And some of the not so cool stuff.
Persona 5 Strikers is not the routine of every day life: it is a (literal) road trip. There is no deadline system in place like there is with Persona 5. This changes the game quite a bit. It's no longer the comfort of routine, but about going on holiday with old friends. A lot of the appeal is just "The Phantom Thieves but more". In contrast to The Phantom Thieves growing as people, Persona 5: Strikers is about seeing how far The Phantom Thieves have come.
This is most evident in the game's Jails and its Monarchs. Instead of going into the cyber realm to fight criminals and other bad guys in their Palaces, Strikers makes you fight Monarchs in their Jails. They are totally different. Trust me. But to be fair, the Monarchs are portrayed differently to the iron fist of the palace rulers. The monarchs are not necessarily evil people, but people who have lost their way. Each one is a dark reflection of The Phantom Thieves had they strayed from the path - a writer who plagiarises work or a politician who's heart turns to ice in the face of corruption. You're not really rebelling against society in this one and the stakes are fairly low. That is, until the plot takes over.
It's a shame that it does, because it means only a few characters get the time in the sun that they deserve. I would love to see how my son, Morgana has changed over the year. Has he figured out how to turn into a human yet? What do Ren's parents think of him? How is he enjoying Ren's hometown? Do they have any sushi there? Unfortunately, he's not given that much attention compared to the other characters, which I suppose is fine, because he was given a lot of attention in 5, whereas someone like Haru wasn't, who is easily at her best here. There is a little bit where he is given some of the spotlight, but it's shared by the other characters too. I don't know how Makoto stans are eating tonight as she is an absolute cop in this one and not given much attention at all. Anyway, I sound completely deranged, let's talk about something else.
Tier list. Makoto is a cop in this one.
The characters being at their peak is both a blessing and a curse. The game flirts with the line in the sand that is fan service, but sometimes veers to the wrong side. On the one hand you have pure, distilled dorkiness. The dialogue is back in full swing and watching the shared braincell ping between each of the Phantom Thieves' brains is some of the best entertainment you're going to get in this pandemic hellscape. On the other hand, you have awkward call-backs and forced references to Persona 5 that the fanbase apparently found hilarious. There is some trademark Persona creepiness too which it could really do without. I don't know who the target audience is for this kind of thing. It's not as awkward as previous titles, but I still wish it was done away with altogether.
Just because the game does not feature the routine from Persona 5, it doesn't mean there is no fun in the mundanity of it all. Much of the conversation that takes place between the thieves is on what kind of food they want to eat while firing about from city to city. While it's easy to gloss over all the Japanese names, I had a lot of fun stopping for a bit and Googling what Takoyaki is. Apparently it's some kind of Octopus. And this is a big deal. It's basically a Enid Blyton novel. I genuinely wish more games would approach food in the way that Persona does. There's a bit where you make dinner for a family you're staying with and it's excellent. It sounds really stupid, but Persona does a great job at romanticising the mundane in the same way that Studio Ghibli does. One of my favourite parts of Persona 4 was simply preparing lunch for the next day. I have never felt more hungry playing a video game.
That's the strength of Persona 5 Strikers, really - the characters alongside the mundanity of it all. It's the first half of a season of Stranger Things. The new additions to the cast are welcome ones too. Sophia, a friendly AI companion to humanity is earnest and helps put your summer journey into perspective. It's one of the less cheesy "AI with a heart of gold" character arcs I've seen and her development towards the end is very satisfying to witness. You also have Zenkichi, a wise cracking cop who takes a while to warm up to (for me at least) but also has some excellent character development. But... yeah... he's still a cop. And that's not great.
Here lies the problem with Persona 5 and Persona 5 Strikers: upon reflection, it's politics are actually quite liberal. It's easy to ignore with Persona 5, since it's assumed that your actions have made a radical impact on society, even if the perpetrators have been brought in by the book. But Persona 5: Striker's makes that voice a little louder. It makes you ask - what was Persona 5 for?
Nothing appears to have changed in society as evidenced by the fact that this sequel exists. It gives the impression that there is nothing wrong with the system of power, but it was just a few corrupt people misusing that power for nefarious misdeeds. But surely, the fact that this system has returned ultimately means that the events in Persona 5 were for nothing? You fought a literal God and yet nothing changed. This isn't really a question that Persona 5 Strikers seems keen on answering and instead supports a status quo viewpoint. The system is fine. There's nothing wrong with the system - it's just a few bad actors.
The game's villain doesn't seem too convicted by their beliefs either. Instead of God showing up to mess with you and your pals, it is EMMA themselves that rises to enslave humanity and rob them of their desires. EMMA's creator, Ichinose's argument is so flawed that it's just not compelling to listen to at all - I thought the reason why villains are so great is because they actually have a point? Here it's just absolute nonsense. One of the major problems that links to Persona 5's liberalism is that it tries to argue suffering as simply a necessary part of life. I'm sure those among us with less privilege would not agree with that at all! I might be reading too much into it, but it very much sounds like it's trying to indicate that the status quo of our messy world is the norm and just something that we should put up with it.
The Phantom Thieves are there to rebel against society... but not too much. Like with Persona 5, the bad actors are brought to justice in the end by the book and yet the systems that allowed such corruption to happen are left standing. Now if you look under your seats as a bonus to this post, you will find your free copy of The Communist Manifesto.
The idea of free will with suffering or an ideal world under control of a God is a little boring by now, especially when Persona 5 Royal tackled this idea a thousand times better with Maruki - a villain who I actually felt empathy for, and even made me question my actions. I'm not sure why they tried? I understand that God showing up at the end is Persona's thing, but maybe they could have just not this time round? I don't know.
Hmm... yes... very interesting observation Ryuji...
So where do we go from here? Well worry not as the post is over in a few paragraphs, but what I mean is where does Persona go from here? Each successor from first playing Persona 5 and looking back at each predecessor has given me more confidence than ever in an eventual Persona 6. It's clear that Atlus has seen what makes Persona so special and has doubled down every time while phasing out some of the problematic elements. Maybe phase it out a bit faster though, yeah?
Persona 5 Strikers is about seeing old friends for the last time. I think the Phantom Thieves have run their course. Strikers is a beautiful send off to some wonderful characters which makes this game a must have for any superfans out there. As dweeby as this sounds, it was deeply personal to see characters from a game that got me through a very difficult lockdown last year and it's something I will never forget. Sometimes, video games are very neat.
Until next time, Phantom Thieves.