Persona 5 Strikers is better than most Dynasty Warriors games. In fact, it might be the best collaboration Koei Tecmo has done yet. In many ways it feels more like Atlus/Sega developed this all on their own. That does not mean, however, that it is not without faults.
There are many things the developers should have included at launch. Some of these things can hopefully be easily patched in for updates, while others may be a bit tricker. Whether they will be complicated to implement into this game's future is irrelevant. These fixes need to be addressed in order to make Persona 5 Strikers the very best Persona spinoff game it can be.
10 Can’t Run In Reality
In the game players can dash while in a dungeon. They cannot dash when in the real world. Tilting the stick slightly will make Joker walk and further tilting will make him run. None of his movements are as fast as in the dungeon though. This is true for every playable character even ones that should presumably be faster like Morgana in his Cat Bus form.
9 Cat Bus/Johanna Fast Travel
As it was just mentioned, Morgana can turn into his Cat Bus form just like in the original game. This can be done inside, or outside of battle. The thing is, this form is slower than Morgana dashing on his own feet. It would make more sense for it to be faster. Also, allowing Makoto to ride Johanna around, as it is a motorcycle, would also make sense for an update.
8 Take Away The Watermarks
Atlus/Sega and Koei Tecmo, along with a few other Japanese companies like Square Enix, are notorious for placing watermarks on their photos. They feel unnecessary in an age where there are so many ways to bypass them anyway.
A small watermark on a cutscene usually doesn’t ruin things. But as exampled above, the watermark often blurs with commands, making for a photo mess. Please, remove these watermarks for players.
7 Add Co-Op
It was genuinely surprising to find out that this game has no co-op. In retrospect it does make sense as this is more of a Persona game in stretch than a Dynasty Warriors one. It has a lot more story for one and follows the layout of Persona 5. That said, other games with story allow for co-op when in battle. The Tales series is a great example. Co-op should be added, even if it is just for some sort of new, limited mode.
6 Checkpoint Upgrades
Checkpoints offer a variety of things in Jails, this game’s version of Palaces. They allow the party to warp around to other checkpoints, change members, and most importantly allow one to save the game. Outside in the real world, the menu is expanded in the camper, their traveling vehicle. Players can also shop, take on quests, and cook. It makes sense to not allow cooking and shopping in a dungeon, but why not add the side quest menu at least? On top of that, checkpoints should heal the party. They get healed anyway when going back to reality. This would just lessen that step.
5 Give Experience to Non-Party Members
Characters not participating in battle do not gain experience. This is bad for a number of reasons. One would think developers would be past this limitation by now. It’s easy to get around this in the game by rotating party members. However, similar to how one can heal the party by going in and out of dungeons, it feels like an odd mechanic to not give all party members the same experience in, or out of battle in a modern game.
4 Add Characters
Futaba is once again just the navigator for the party. She’s great at it, but it would be nice to let her participate in real combat. Seeing her cruise around on her alien ship, fighting enemies with tentacles would not even be the weirdest character Koei Tecmo has ever designed for one of their games.
Some other great additions for DLC, or free patches, could include Makoto’s sister, Sae, who is already well versed in the Metaverse. There is also a scene that is just begging for them to add in Date Masamune, along with other Samurai Warriors heroes. A VR battle arena could address this crossover idea along with how co-op could be added.
3 Map Fixes
The map is fine, but it could use some work. For example, it would be nice it better highlighted objectives. Sometimes the red exclamation makes appear on there and sometimes they don’t. There is no real indication of markers for side quests and NPCs are not highlighted during Information Search. Adding in new markers for these things would help lessen the load on the player.
2 Add More Save Slots
As of right now there are nine save slots in the game on PS4/PS5. The original game was also limited in this way. Not only that, but there is no autosave feature. One can be thankful that if one dies during a battle, they can retry from there. This doesn’t help during power outages though or any other glitches be it by the machine, Mother Nature, or whatever. Add in autosaves and expand the allotment of slots is the wish here.
1 Photo Mode
Most modern games have a photo mode of some sort. It would make sense in this game’s context to add one since Joker has a smart phone. It definitely has a camera on it so why not? If given the choice between removing watermarks on footage, or adding in an in-game photo mode, most fans would probably prefer the additional mode.