Highlights

  • Persona 5 Tactica introduces a new Weapon Crafting function, similar to Destiny 2, allowing players to craft custom weapons with unique stats and status effects.
  • The weapon crafting in Persona 5 Tactica requires players to progress in the storyline and unlock specific features in the Velvet Room, making it a rewarding but expensive option.
  • Destiny 2's weapon crafting mechanic, introduced in The Witch Queen expansion, also has prerequisites and allows players to shape and reshape their custom weapons using Weapon Patterns and perks for added power.

With the rise in popularity of customization in the gaming industry, it has become a necessity for games to provide their audiences with a wide range of options in terms of character and weapon detailing. Players take their unique skins seriously, and it is now standard practice for combat games of all sizes to allow gamers to craft custom items. In the spirit of keeping with the times, Persona 5 Tactica, the latest spin-off of the widely popular Atlus JRPG franchise, generated some interest for its new Weapon Crafting function. Interestingly, there are a few points of intersection in Tactica's custom dynamics and that of Bungie's Destiny 2. Although their plot focuses couldn't be more different, there are some similarities in crafting.

While fans wait with bated breath for any official update concerning Persona 6's development, Persona 5 Tactica's rollout has received a generally favorable reception. Departing from the traditional high school calendar activities from the majority of the franchise's previous entries, Tactica introduced fans to a refreshingly different experience. Apart from the high-profile setting change in its features, the Weapon Crafting dynamic in the Velvet Room offered Tactica some much-needed varied gameplay. Similarly, The Witch Queen expansion was the first to give Destiny 2 players a free-rein weapon crafting system to design custom weapons using any magazine perks or barrels of their choice. As game changers for their franchises, it's only natural to contrast Tactica and Destiny 2's crafting experiences.

the Musketeer and Grenadier enemies in P5T
Related
Persona 5 Tactica Lets Down Its Strategy Combat in One Regard

Persona 5 Tactica is a mostly solid strategy game, but its lack in a key area makes it a step back from some of the best games in the genre.

Weapon Crafting in Persona 5 Tactica and Destiny 2

Lavenza, Morgana, and Joker in the Velvet Room from Persona 5 Tactica

Persona 5 Tactica's Weapon Crafting Has a Hefty But Justified Price Tag

Using the weapon crafting mechanic in Persona 5 Tactica requires players make considerable progress into the storyline, unlocking Velvet Room features such as Normal and Special Fusion. Fusing Personas forms the basis of Tactica's Velvet Room, and after unlocking the Forge, players can fuse Personas to craft new powerful weapons. In terms of power scaling, the ranged weapons formed by joining two Personas together are more effective than those available for purchase at the store in the Prep menu.

These crafted weapons also have complimentary status effects such as Freeze, Sweep, and Burn, in addition to their upgraded damage stats, presenting a lucrative option for players to defeat enemies. Persona 5 Tactica also allows crafted weapons to be scrapped for money with the Disassemble feature. However, Tactica's weapon crafting has the drawback of being expensive, requiring two Personas with specific affinities and levels -- although the potential reward of an extremely powerful gun is generally worth the price tag.

Destiny 2's Crafting Toes a Slightly Different Path

Destiny 2 Crafting Materials

Like Tactica, The Witch Queen expansion in Destiny 2 required gamers to meet some prerequisites before crafting their custom weapons. Completing the first mission of the campaign unlocked the Enclave, the weapon forge for the first-person shooter, and its Weapon Patterns. Weapon Patterns and Deepsight Resonance are necessary for crafting in Destiny 2, and the mechanic has two categories: Shaping and Reshaping. Shaping is the term for building custom weapons from scratch, and players can add perks like Rapid Hit and Rampage to give an extra punch.

Adding perks to weapons can cost a variety of Enhancement Cores, Ascendant Alloys, and Legendary Shards, depending on player selection. Guardians can still change their forged weapon perk composition after Shaping by using the Reshaping feature, and the dynamic is widely used since certain perks can only be added after increasing a weapon's level. Crafted weapons in Destiny 2 can often be more effective than ones found in the wild, just like Tactica, although both games have different implementations. Persona 5 Tactica makes players combine multiple Personas in the hopes of forming a powerful weapon with added status effects, while Destiny 2 relies on its defined Weapon Pattern detail to craft new weapons.