Persona 5 Strikers: How to make a Persona sequel that surpasses the original (Spoilers)
I’ve been a fan of the Persona series for a long time. I’ve played all the mainline entries (1, 2IS, 2EP, 3Fes, 4/Golden, and 5) as well as a number of the spin-off games (Arena, Ultimax, Persona Q) and I can’t say I’ve ever been quite as satisfied with how the games have been structured since Persona 3.
Persona 3 was the series’ first foray into what is now the “Modern” version of the series. The introduction of being heavily stylized, social links, modern persona/demon fusion, and a much larger central focus on individuals living their lives the way they want to as a means of being honest with themselves. One thing that made Persona 3 really stand out in-terms of it’s narrative was how it tied that to certain gameplay segments and the growth of characters through the evolution of their personas to reflect their true hearts.
Persona 4 tried something similar but it wasn’t as gracious. It was a great player experience with it’s own fun narrative but it didn’t challenge the characters as much or focus on how they changed after they faced their repressed sides and obtained their personas. Persona 5 largely follows in the same sense with an even smaller focus on the individual characters in the service of a larger focus around the evil actions of certain adults and their abuse of power.
Persona 5’s focus around fighting against an unjust society and those who aren’t punished for their misdeeds hits home for a lot of socially conscious youths and well meaning people. Injustices that are in the public light that are known about but simply not being acted on because of someone’s power or influence. Granted with the power that the Phantom Thieves have, they take it upon themselves to correct society by changing the hearts of those who have caused harm to others and society at large by forcefully changing them. Causing them to admit their sins and turn themselves in to the police.
Persona 5 brings up a few questions about the nature of corrupt and dirty individuals and how they impact the lives of those who are well meaning and attempt to do their best for others. Yet a complaint that was leveraged at the game by some was the moral questions surrounding the ethics of what the Phantom Thieves do. They force someone to atone for their sins by making them change against their own will. Overwriting someone’s, all through evil, will with what they believe is correct. Not only in the main story but in the side-quests and social links as well. Most of the problems are solved by Phantom Thief involvement.
To touch on Persona 5 Royal briefly, I have no first hand experience with it but I did learn that some things were changed with Royal that better suit the game’s narrative and create a more thematic through line to Strikers. It could even be said that Royal changes Persona 5 to be wholly relevant to Strikers in a more direct means than even the original version of the game. However, since Strikers was made to primarily continue off of the original Persona 5, especially narratively, Royal will not be referenced from here on.
Persona 5 Strikers, despite being labeled as a spin-off title and playing in a different genre, is a sequel to Persona 5. Taking place one year after the events of Persona 5, the Phantom Thieves go on a road trip across Japan while solving a new mystery that is creating these locations called “Jails” which house the stolen desires of the masses in a given area.
The rulers of these Jails are called “Monarchs” and each one is much more human than the villains from Persona 5. Each monarch has suffered from some form of trauma or incident that emotionally scarred them for life. Using their newfound power, they harness the desires of the masses to enact their personal desires.
What made Strikers much more interesting in the first act in comparison to Persona 5 was just how much easier it was to understand the bosses. A prerequisite to fighting most of the bosses is directly encountering the trauma that scarred that person’s heart and led them to the actions they are taking now.
With the introduction of Sophia and Zenkichi, the thematic core of Strikers has a much more tangible presence than that of Persona 5. There are numerous conversations between the Phantom Thieves discussing how the enemies they face got to where they are and the line between what they do and how the bosses solve their problems as well. Zenkichi being the most direct in asking the Phantom Thieves about their perception of justice as an officer of Public Security.
Another important introduction is that of Akane Hasegawa. Zenkichi’s 14 year old daughter. It’s revealed that she’s a huge Phantom Thief fan and her sense of justice is slowly forming. While she has conflict with her father’s inaction regarding the arrest of the person who killed Akane’s mother, she becomes misinformed about the actions of the Phantom Thieves and uses her Jail as a means to change their hearts so that they enact the “justice” that she perceives is true. She believes to be the only person who knows what is truly right and lashes out by creating her own ideal version of the Phantom Thieves that serve as her dungeon’s final boss.
This dungeon is where Zenkichi awakens not only to his own persona but his own sense of justice. Zenkichi reasons that his perception of justice was founded on permitting injustice and acts of harm as a means to catch “bigger fish” when need be. An arc that he’s been struggling with since the beginning of the game seeing as he only contacted the Phantom Thieves to use them to serve his bigger purpose. Zenkichi’s definition of justice in this moment appears to be the one that the Phantom Thieves carry forward. Shifting from just a perception of what they deem to be “right” and instead one that denies the misuse and trampling of others in the name of personal desires or a “higher good”. Defining their sense of justice as something that doesn’t come at the exploitation of others.
The game continues after this with Akira Konoe as the next boss who directly admits that he was using this power as a means to police the world and keep people in check. Seeing himself as a hero that can be there for others when nobody else was there for him when he was mistreated and abused by his father. Stating that the Phantom Thieves are limited in their scope and power but highly influential in their capabilities. The boss fight even includes a line where Akira states how similar the goals of The Phantom Thieves and himself are but is swiftly brushed aside by the Thieves when they state that they themselves aren’t too sure in their own nature.
In the final act of the game, the new core of the Phantom Thieves’ belief starts to finally form through Sophia’s own self-discovery. Learning about the nature of a human heart and what having it even means. Sophia comes to define a heart as something that can change based on the experiences it undergoes. Sadness, hatred, fear, joy, and every emotion that can result in a person changing is what makes up a heart. Once a person’s desires are taken away, they are unable to change for themselves or experience these emotions and that is the true injustice that all the monarchs were guilty of.
To build upon that with the final boss, mankind had given up their desires in the face of something that offers salivation through the means of never needing to worry or want for anything anymore. The rejection of this man-made god is to reject the notion that a life without desires is one worth living. A desire fuels a heart to undergo change. To face adversity and grow stronger to make that desire a reality. To chase that desire but never have it come at the cost of stealing another’s or using their free will to obtain what you want. The Phantom Thieves reject this god and grant humanity the ability to chase their own desires once again. So long as it’s done in a means that doesn’t come at the cost of another’s free will.
Strikers serves as a stronger piece of media that lives up to the old Persona 5 teaser of “You are a slave. Want emancipation?” than the original game. Arguing for the pursuit of your own desires but establishing where “too far” is and that opting-out of having desires isn’t the true way to live a fulfilling life. Someone forcing your desire onto you isn’t a meaningful desire. Someone granting you your desire by taking away their control isn’t a meaningfully earned desire. Giving away your desire isn’t a meaningful means of living your life. Your desire is your own. It’s one that you can form, choose, chase, change, and obtain only on your own. There’s no meaningful way to obtain it by any other means. Even if your desire is well intentioned, it has to be done in a way that doesn’t deprive someone of their own autonomy. Living an autonomous life, living it to the fullest without harming others, and to the beat of your own drum is what it means to be a Phantom Thief.
