This Persona 5 Royal Strategy is Virtually Unbeatable, But…

The player character of a Persona game typically wields the Wild Card — a powerful ability that lets them summon nearly any Persona. This includes Personas belonging to characters from other games in the series, usually added as paid DLC. Persona 5 Royal's DLC includes one Persona that is infamously overpowered, and can potentially trivialize the game's trickiest boss fights. While it can be satisfying to decisively wipe the ground with some of the nastiest foes in Persona 5 Royal (looking at you, Kamoshida), the inclusion of nigh-unbeatable DLC Personas doesn't bode well for the upcoming Persona 4 remake or future games in the series.

Izanagi-no-Okami's Most Powerful Ability Can Make Persona 5 Royal Feel "Pay-To-Win"

Several Personas from Persona 3 and Persona 4 were made available as paid DLC for Persona 5. When Persona 5 Royal was released, even more DLC was added, including Izanagi-no-Okami, the Ultimate Persona of the Persona 4 protagonist. Players had the option of purchasing the Persona Bundle, which included four Personas, for $9.99, or all of the DLC together for $59.99. Later versions of Royal came bundled with the DLC, and the DLC was as a result made free for players who owned the base version of Royal on PlayStation 4.

What Izanagi-no-Okami Brings to the Table

While all DLC Personas are fairly powerful — they are available as soon as the player gains access to the Velvet room, and start at a high level — Izanagi-no-Okami quickly gained a reputation as the strongest of them all. Its skills and traits include:

Myriad Truths — hits all enemies 3x for high Almighty damage
Almighty Boost — strengthens Almighty attacks by 25%
Victory Cry — fully heals HP and SP after victory
Country Maker (trait) — increases attack/defense based on Persona Compendium completion

Myriad Truths — which cannot be passed to any other Persona — is one of the most powerful attacks in the game. Players can use Persona Fusion to boost its damage further by adding skills like Almighty Amp (strengthens Almighty attacks by 50%), Magic Ability (strengthens all magic attacks by 25%) and more.

This one ability trivializes most early-game fights, and remains effective throughout the game. It's even useful against the final boss. Almost nothing resists Almighty damage, making it easy for Izanagi-no-Okami to carve a swathe of destruction through the entire game. Joker has access to over 200 Personas, but, with Izanagi-no-Okami, sometimes it feels like all he needs is one.

Given that he is a major creation deity in Japanese mythology, Izanagi-no-Okami's power level is unsurprising, but that doesn't mean it's healthy for the game.

Atlus Shouldn't Repeat This Strategy In Future Persona Games

Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis DLC Release Date1-1

Developer Atlus is infamous for their love of DLC, releasing bundles and bundles for almost every game. In recent years, its DLC strategy has felt increasingly "pay-to-win," with examples including:

Shin Megami Tensei 5 DLC that boosts the appearance of Mitama enemies, allowing players to more easily earn money, EXP, and Glory.
Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology DLC that allowed players to earn more in-game money. Paired with the company's controversial decision to decrease post-battle rewards, this is extra scummy.
The decision to release Episode Aigis as highly-priced DLC rather than include it in Persona 3 Reload.

Why DLC Personas Need to Change

It seems inevitable that the next Persona remake, Persona 4 Revival, as well as Persona 6 will have DLC Personas, given Atlus' tendencies. But the company should avoid making these Personas as powerful as Izanagi-no-Okami. The likes of Orpheus, Thanatos, Satanael, and others could be game-breaking, but they shouldn't be. In a game about embracing the Wild Card power, creating unique Persona builds through Fusion, and strategically utilizing enemies' weaknesses, there shouldn't be a "push this button to win" Persona. Especially not one that players have to spend extra money to obtain.

Bringing back classic Personas from other games is fun, and it can be done well, but future Persona games shouldn't see a repeat of the Izanagi-no-Okami situation. Perhaps Myriad Truths should have remained the mysterious cutscene-based "ultimate power" attack that it was in its original game, rather than something Persona 5 Royal players can use to trivialize even the game's trickiest fights.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image