Persona 5 The Phantom X, the gacha game from developer Atlas, inspired by the Persona series, has been out for a little over two months. While the initial launch was met with a warm reception, things since then have been more of a roller coaster. Changes to standard banners, where players pull new characters, an accelerated schedule compared to its launch in China, which felt more predatory than anything else, plus a lack of gems.
There have been a few places where players may have fallen off of Persona 5 The Phantom X. The good thing is that the developers have been actively listening and making changes, and with the launch of Update 2.0, it’s the perfect time to hop back in.
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Update 2.0 has a lot going for it. There’s new story content, new characters, and added rewards for global players. While the story across the first couple of chapters has been entertaining, it’s also been memed to death, with the Subway Slammer villain being a particular sore spot. The consistent feedback was that the story never lived up to its main series counterparts, instead coming off more goofy or derivative of villains already seen in the games.
Persona 5 The Phantom X’s Update 2.o brings a much stronger story than the initial release.
With 2.0 comes the third Palace, but more importantly, writers from the core Persona franchise were brought in to help develop the story. For many players who have played the other versions, this is where the story finally takes a turn for the better.
The first quarter of the palace is available now, with the rest being rolled out over the next few months. The fourth palace is supposed to continue the higher bar set for the narrative, so for players who may have fallen off, these chapters are a fantastic time to rejoin or start playing.
The new major characters introduced are also incredibly important. Ayaka Sakai, otherwise known as Chord, is the latest character to have a limited banner. She’s a supportive character that has a move set that can quickly build the Highlight gauge, aka super moves. She also lets characters use their Highlights even when they’re on a cool-down. Chord is the closest thing to a meta, must-pull character the game has seen thus far, slotting into almost any team composition.
Chord and Riko are great new additions to Persona 5 The Phantom X.
The other character, Riko Tanemura, is a great navigator as well, but she can be obtained through the story. There’s also going to be an event towards the end of the month that will grant Riko a 4-star weapon, along with enough material to max it out.
She’s a fantastic offensive navigator that will make a big difference in team compositions for the next while. Futaba, who’s slated to launch in the next few months, is another character that folks should try to get. It’s a great time to start saving gems.
To help with pulls for the new characters, Persona 5 The Phantom X has a login event that rewards players with 20x Platinum Tickets, used for pulling characters, and 20x Platinum Millicoins, used for weapons. These are huge rewards that can help get to Chord and her 5-star weapon, on top of the rewards from playing chapter three. Alongside these rewards, we’ll also be getting a free 5-star weapon later this month.
Update 2.0’s Thief’s Gognite Shards help with limited characters like Joker.
A Joker rerun banner is also live, for folks who may have missed out on the Persona 5 star earlier. New players, regardless of when they join, will also get a Joker banner for the first 30 days. Joker is an incredibly strong DPS character, shredding through enemies, and having him on my team has been incredibly helpful.
A new addition to the game that even the overseas counterparts haven’t gotten yet is the Thief’s Cognite Shards. 60x is being given for free, which is enough for a free cognite to choose from for a specific pool of characters. The cognite raises the character’s awareness by 1, usually unlocking huge boons for the character.
Normally, you have to pull for a duplicate character from the banners to get these, but they’ll be collectable in other ways. It’s a great, albeit slower, way to accumulate and raise a character’s awareness level, especially for limited characters like Joker. More characters will be added to the choice pool later, as well.
On top of all of that, there are also new areas to explore, new social links, more end-game levelling for Wonder, new part-time jobs, new Personas, and more. Lapsed players will get their own welcoming bonus for playing again, while new players will get their own rewards and incentives for joining in.
Between Chapter 3, an incredible new thief in Chord, and more rewards, it’s a fantastic time to check out Persona 5 The Phantom X.
Persona 5: The Phantom X is available now on Android, iOS, and Microsoft Windows.
