Persona 5and its enhanced edition,Persona 5 Royal,provided a compelling experience for both longtime fans and newcomers alike, and though the series' battle system resembles itsShin Megami Tenseibeginnings, the combat seen inPersona’s latest mainline titles is widely considered to be more forgiving. With features likeBaton Pass, there are plenty of opportunities to down foes and get the most out of the damage that the Phantom Thieves can inflict. This is exacerbated through the implementation of technical damage, with both pros and cons to its potential reappearance inPersona 6.
Technical damage inPersona 5andPersona 5 Royaloccurs when enemies inflicted with status ailments are follow-up attacked with a certain elemental affinity. This results in higher damage output, providing an especially useful way to finish off reeling enemies. The mechanic relies on players honing the synergy of their active team, as status-inflicting moves and their corresponding technical elements need to be taken into account. For example, having Ann and Morgana inP5’s first dungeon allows for the former to inflict burn ailments and the latter to clean up with wind spells, as the two work respectively to trigger the technical prompt.
The Pros and Cons of Technical Damage Making a Return in Persona 6
Technical Damage in Persona 5 and P5 Royal
While physical ailments like shock and burn had a bit more versatility in their corresponding elemental attacks for technical damage, mental ailments were more selective. In the originalP5, most were relegated to psychokinesis, meaning that enemies with afflictions like fear or despair would need to be hit with Psy skills in order to prompt technical damage. Given each party member’s specialty, this meant that the task was mostly up toHaru and Jokerto fulfill, thoughPersona 5 Royalremedied this slightly with the book Knowing the Heart, a consumable item from the game’s Nagiuri Bookstore that opened up other elements for technical damage against mental ailments.
Persona 5 Royalalso tied this combat feature into its social sim gameplay, allowing for the technical damage multiplier to increase after playing billiards with the team. In turn, this heightened the rate at which an enemy could be downed by a technical attack, which didn’t previously occur in the originalP5.
Because this would trigger a ‘One More!’ action, it meant that there were even more opportunities for players to utilize Baton Pass, and thus, higher chances of securing victory. Fully completing Joker’s technical proficiency meant that there was a 100% chance of downing an enemy with technical damage, which could arguably have trivializedPersona 5 Royal’s late-game encountersfor some players.
Providing Team Synergy at the Cost of Being Overpowered
It seems thatPersona 5Royal’s changesto technical damage were made in an attempt to keep it more balanced, with its default multiplier value less thanPersona 5’s. Given how technical damage can be enhanced through raising technical proficiency, there are arguments to be made about it being overpowered in the long run, especially in conjunction with downing enemies.
Though it helped shake upPersona 5’s battle system and provided its new elements, psychic and nuclear, with more uses, the frequency with which it could be used to prolong a player’s turn by One More! actions could make combat encounters skew toward the easier side. If both technical damage and Baton Pass were to return inPersona 6, then the title could run into similar issues.
On the other hand, having the technical mechanic return would sustain a focus on team synergy, relying on the player to think of their active party’s composition and get more use out of status-afflicting spells for mental ailments, which can often be deprioritized compared to offensive or buffing actions.
Ultimately,Persona 6would likely make additional adjustments to account for balancing, so it doesn’t seem like there would be too much harm in the technical mechanic’s return. With that said, there is always a push for iteration when it comes to mainline titles, and with how pervasivePersona 5’s style and themeshave been in its spin-offs and the recentPersona 3 Reload, the case for something new inPersona 6’s combat would be interesting as well.
