Finally finished up persona 5 strikers. I've got a few nitpicks, but the overall game is pretty good. The story is pretty generic, but the characters really help carry it. They emote well, the voice acting is greate, and the characters all have great chemistry with each other. This is definitely one of those games that relies a lot on the previous game to carry much of the character building, however. Most of the main cast doesn't develop much, and it's only the newcomers that really do.

One thing you do need to keep in mind if you decide to play it is that this is not a turn-based jrpg like the last one, it's a Dynasty Warriors type game, where you're fighting hordes of enemies in real time. (Though time is stopped when you summon your persona, or open the menu). It's also only about a 40 hour game this time around as compared to Persona 5 Royal's bloated 120+ hour completion time. I also still feel like this had the same difficulty problem as the previous game, where there are weird peaks and valleys with the difficulty, especially with the bosses.

I think my biggest gripe with the game are a few performance issues. While it runs just fine, it has some pretty bad pop-in. Like you see windows or lights appear 5 feet in front of you, or textures not loading until you're right next to them. But the big thing here is the loading. It's like a PS2 game where there are loading screens every other minute, and half of them take like 20+ seconds to load. The previous game didn't have that problem, and it was like 3 times as big.

It becomes really noticeable when you use checkpoints for healing. Basically, at any checkpoint, you can warp out of the dungeon, back to the real world. Doing so, unlike the previous game, has no drawbacks, since the movement of time is scripted. Merely leaving the dungeon refills everyone's HP and MP, so you'll probably be doing this pretty often, unless you want to spend every last yen on healing items and going through them like candy. Afterwards, you can hop right backinto the dungeon from any of the checkpoints within it. Here's the issue: going out of the dungeon, and then directly back in is four loading screens. One for leaving, one for getting back into the hideout, once for going back into the dungeon, and then one for warping back to the checkpoint. Why couldn't they just put a "rest" option at the checkpoints is beyond me.

As far as the fusing system is concerned, it's all sorts of annoying. You can't itemize or sacrifice personas anymore, so the only way to get rid of them is to fuse. Not only that, but most personas make you have to have the base personas needed for fusion a certain level before you can fuse them. It's entirely possible to be unable to clear your persona stock because you can't fuse anything. It sucks.

Either way, if you're willing to look over these small blemishes, there's a great game with a fun story and characters to be had. If you liked Persona 5 and want a little more, this game is for you.