Even though it’s a bit of an old buzzword, “Persona 5: The Phantom X” is a title worthy of being a fan.
Before I tell the story, I have something to confess. First, the reporter likes the unique turn-based combat of JRPGs. I have a lot of fun analyzing my opponent’s strength, forming a party that suits him, and continuing to fight strategically. I also like adventure games like the “Like the Dragon” series. I tend to enjoy all the side content scattered around the world without missing it.
Most importantly, the journalist is not familiar with the Persona series. It’s not that I’m completely ignorant of it, but I’ve only heard about it from acquaintances who look over their shoulders. Even for such a journalist, “Persona 5: The Phantom X (hereinafter referred to as Phantom X)” is a very fun game.
In the overall appearance of the game, the efforts made to preserve the atmosphere of the Persona series stand out, especially Persona 5, which can be said to be the original. From the game’s splash screen decorated with the silhouette of the protagonist and his group colorfully flying above a building, to the overall graphics and full voice acting animation that fills various parts of the story, the game boasts a level of quality that makes it difficult to believe whether it’s a mobile game.
The story of the game continues by examining the original work. The original protagonist, “The Phantom Thieves of Heart”, appears as a playable character and the leader, “Joker”, is depicted as a person who holds an important clue to the story. Starting from the different world “Mementos” that appears in the story, settings such as “Persona”, another personality of the characters, were also retained.
If you want, you can hear stories about the game’s settings through conversations with NPCs.
This is where the appeal of the Phantom This is something that recently released mobile games in the subculture genre have not noticed. The fact that you can fully understand the game’s worldview just by playing, even without basic knowledge of previous work, is definitely a plus.
However, there was a problem during the process of converting the game from the original package to a live service mobile game. As we attempted to tell a story that assumed long-term service while verifying the unique storytelling method of the original, several problems arose.
First of all, the meaningless optional script is quite annoying. When the protagonist is asked a question, several choices appear, and the content of these choices is practically identical. It’s so obvious that the same answer will come out regardless of which answer you choose, that it’s tiring to be asked to make that choice.
The only thing the bad character does in the story is “shrug his shoulders.” While there is a setting that takes away human “desire” through this…
Chapter 1 of the story, which appears to have been censored, is also problematic. Despite the Persona series’ unique vast worldview, the evil deeds committed by the series’ villains are truly outrageous. The story is that his twisted desire, having missed the opportunity to become a major leaguer for some reason, has manifested itself as a shoulder pad, and thanks to this banal evil deed, his sense of motivation to defeat his enemies is greatly reduced.
Above all, it is not explained why the ‘Palace’, the stage of the game and the stage created by his desire, symbolizes lust. This is the part that feels empty, like there was a different story and then it disappeared.
It was a video that showed an important clue to the story. Why isn’t it translated?
There are also a few other small issues. As always, translation issues arose in this game, with subtitles not matching the Japanese audio at all and issues with characters frequently switching between formal and informal speech.
Furthermore, there are some shortcomings in the progression of the stages, which constitute the main content of the game. The challenging puzzle elements are solved too easily thanks to unlimited hints, and the stealth functionality is of such low quality that it feels like there’s a lack of quality control. Since it’s the main stage, I regret it and ask myself, “Wouldn’t it have been better if more effort had been put into this part?”
Even though there were some regrets, I enjoyed it enough to stay up all night watching this scene.
But then again, this game was so fun that even journalists who weren’t fans of the Persona series could enjoy it without realizing that time was passing. Even the disappointing parts cannot be underestimated because the faithful historical research is excellent and takes full advantage of the charm of the original work. I can’t say it’s an authentic Persona title, but I would rate it as a good introduction to the IP called Persona.
#ghost
