Atlus isn't looking to reinvent what it means to be a JRPG with Persona 5 Royal. The much-expanded rerelease of Push Square's 2017 Game of the Year is still that same 100+ hour epic journey through the trials and tribulations of Shujin Academy's favourite friendship group. So, what do franchise fanatics have to look forward to when it comes to justifying a second playthrough? Much like PlayStation Vita masterpiece Persona 4 Golden, it's the more minor details which shine brightest. An entirely new semester is on hand to greet those who push through to its conclusion all over again, but that's not to say the original experience hasn't received some tender love and care. A two-hour sampling of everything new in Persona 5 Royal was enough to prove that, all but convincing us into one more playthrough as soon as it arrives on western shores next month.
However, there's no beating around the bush -- this is more Persona 5 in every way imaginable. If the initial PlayStation 4 classic failed to sway you into giving its stylish combat system, flashy menus, and captivating narrative a shot, then Persona 5 Royal isn't going to even bother popping the question. Atlus is unabashedly proud of the campaign it delivered three years ago as the developer expands upon those foundations with neat gameplay additions, remixed boss battles, and new pieces of content here and there in the lead up to its post-ending centrepiece.
Kamoshida's Palace is where you'll first get a glimpse of those mechanics. Joker comes equipped with a grappling hook which allows him to access all-new areas, either to gain an advantage over an unsuspecting enemy or grab an item from a treasure chest. It cannot be used on the fly, restricted rather to certain interactable ledges, but the device does give you the chance to discover a new consumable. Spread throughout each and every dungeon in Persona 5 Royal are Will Seeds which restore party member's SP -- an inconsequential addition on the face of things but one that could actually have a large impact on game balance. It should now be much easier to see a Palace from the beginning through to its end in the space of a single in-game day, opening up the other sets of 24 hours for socialising and studying.
You won't want to get complacent though as every boss fight has something new going for it. Just take Kamoshida himself for example. Alongside his usual antics of eating scantily clad girls to restore health and utilising monsters strapped to ball and chains for extra attacks, the pervert now demands some of his students take part in the action. Cognitive versions of Mishima and Shiho join the battle as you whittle down Kamoshida's health, providing him with a quick bit of respite and giving you something else to think about. The evil duo dish out pretty powerful attacks if you ignore their presence so the fight quickly turns into a balancing act of keeping the main degenerate on his toes and dealing with what those beneath him can throw at you.
These sorts of tweaks and changes are being made to all boss encounters in the game, and while we can only speak for Persona 5 Royal's first Palace, they seem significant enough to warrant a new approach should you be caught off-guard. The rerelease is quite clearly adjusting its core experience for the better and one of the more substantial efforts it has made to achieve that is through the introduction of a new character.
Kasumi is her name and gymnastics is her game. We meet up with the cute, hard-working pupil on a rainy afternoon after class at Shujin Academy, accompanying her to the local train station with an umbrella in hand. She speaks of taking her passion to a global level after years of commitment through competitions, however, that has translated into a bit of a reputation amongst the school's community. Kasumi doesn't like the special treatment she receives as an honour student but that doesn't stop classmates from brandishing her with the name Miss Special Snowflake.
It's an insult we'd consider unfair because from where we're standing, Kasumi makes for a lovely new person to meet and interact with. She's a well-spoken girl who surely comes with layers of depth -- revealed as Joker spends more and more time with her. Whether Kasumi can compete with Makoto for the respected title of Best Girl is up for debate, but we're looking forward to finding out if she can grab top spot or not.
There's an even more ample addition to speak of in Persona 5 Royal to speak of, however. Kichijoji is an entirely new location which can be explored to your heart's content, featuring various shops and characters to talk to. Made up of roughly five streets, a clothes shop allows you to trade in unwanted armour pieces for points to spend on new garments, the Crystal Healing outlet sells all sorts of powerful necklaces, and an imported grocery store that's stuffed with corned beef specials and cereal multi-packs. A stationary stand adds to the atmosphere, the temple gives Joker the chance to meditate and gain permanent SP bonuses, and a jolly shopkeeper tried to persuade us into purchasing some Chinese buns. Makoto can even be spotted sneaking about Kichijoji's alleyways, avoiding conversation with you at all times -- suggesting that this playable stretch takes place somewhat early in the story.
Joker and Ryuji are in town for the Darts Lounge though, not to mess about with girls. The pair participate in a laidback narrative-based sequence, taking turns to try and hit a bullseye which rewards increased damage and HP recovery during battles when a Baton Pass takes place. It makes for a fun side activity, but we're sure the wider team will be visiting Kichijoji on a fair few more occasions with a much more serious task to be completed.
While Persona 5 Royal's biggest attraction still remains shrouded in secrecy, we can confidently say that the tweaks, changes, and additions made to the core experience warrant digging into this JRPG classic once more. From the minor adjustments made to boss battles through to a completely new locale and character, Atlus has assured us that another playthrough is going to be worth your time. What was Game of the Year for 2017 could very well give the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and The Last of Us: Part II a run for their money. Persona 5 Royal is in pole position to become yet another JRPG masterpiece.
We would like to thank Anita Wong and the Persona 5 Royal PR team for inviting Push Square to the preview event. Persona 5 Royal releases on PS4 on 31st March 2020, but are you planning to play it once more? Does the sound of its changes and additions excite you? Strengthen a Confidant in the comments below.
Comments 27
Already preorder the game launch steelbook edition on amazon, can't wait to play it š
I'm 90 hours into Persona 5, and I'm super hyped for Royal and Scramble. The addition of a new semester and expanded Palaces and Mementos makes me super excited.
@wiiware already got mine pre-ordered too. FYI, you can get the same edition 10 pounds cheaper at Shopto.net:
https://www.shopto.net/en/ps4pe20-persona-5-royal-launch-edition-p191438/
@Rob_230 It seems p5r on shopto is not the region 1 version, I usually bought the usa region 1 version since my main account is the usa region 1.
I'm sorry, i'm going to be that guy.
I just couldn't get with Persona. I know it's well respected, and objectively I completely appreciate the astounding game that it is in its own right.
Personally as a guy in my late 30's, I think I couldn't really relate to the lifestyle of a teenager, and the narrative pushed very hard to try to make the player engage, and engross themselves in that.
I play a lot of JRPGs, including ones that include schools, such as Trails Of Cold Steel, i love all of the Trails series, and that's because there is an adult overtone to the overall journey.
With Persona, I felt that I was having to literally throw myself into a childs persona, and play along with the narrative of the underlying school life. I found this particularly, well, unsettling for me on a personal level, so I just couldn't stomach it. A shame, because, as a premise it sure does tick a whole lot of boxes.
Still, well deserving of the praise it receives.
@wiiware ahh sorry. Wasnt thinking about regions. Makes sense!
I got the steelbook launch edition back in 2017 and Iām getting the steelbook plus joker mask day one for this release.
With all these games this year I'm not even looking forward to PS5
Despite having this on pre-order for a while(the Steel book version of course),up until recently i have had second thoughts about whether it was actually worth buying and playing again...especially as I'm super hyped for Scramble...But the more I read and hear about this Royal version the more my doubts disappear and now it's a case of..to hell with my backlog,I'm going to spend ANOTHER 100 hours or so with this crazy group!
@Rob_230 I'm from asia (region 3) but since my psn region games list is incomplete compared to usa region 1, my main account is the usa version
Does our P5 save file carry over or do we need to start from scratch?
@Dr-M It's counted as a completely different game (separate Trophy list and everything), so no progress carries over.
@ShogunRok Thank you so much.
@Averagewriter Thank you for the detailed reply.
Appreciated.
Persona 5 Royal got french subtitles, I can finally play it !!
@Grindagger you're not alone. I got about two hours in, put it down and had no desire to return.
That intro where the skinny lad is trying to escape, all I could think of was how many sad Brewsters would be dressing up as him in real life.
Yeah... Definitely not for me.
But 'why' would they do that? Still don't get it. Why not add things with dlc. If it is too much to be a dlc then why even bother with an already well recieved game? Is it not preferable to experience a new story? A different setting with different characters. Seems like a waste of resources to me that could go into making another game. They will surely benefit from the sales though, that much is obvious to me. The only reasonable answer I can think of is that considering the amount of effort they put in P5 and although it sell pretty well they are still not satisfied and need more money to justify putting great effort into making a new game. Maybe the other 'dance' games serve the same purpose as well.
I loved Persona 5 and yeah, I'd say it was my goty for 2018, which was the year I played it in, but honestly I don't really think I'm ready to replay it quite this soon. Also I feel Persona is so reliant on its story that I don't think it's particularly suitable for replays unfortunately just in general.
I wish they had packed there new ideas into the final semester rather than making me replay the whole game. I will still get it but it will be when I feel like replaying persona five for a third time rather than immediately.
@ShogunRok Is this going to be considered for Game of the Year? Or is it too much of a re-release?
@Jaz007 Right now I think it has to be considered because it's technically a new release. But we'll need to discuss it in-depth closer to the time.
Loved Persona 5 but i won't be replaying it on this version.
Took me close to 5 months and 150+hours to beat it the 1st time around. Now with this added content, likely looking at close to 200+!
@ShogunRok Oooh, we can make Sammy unhappy with the game of the year again. Honestly, itās almost unfair.
@Grindagger ur not the only guy...as much as i love jrpgs, i just dont know if i can get into the whole high school life thing. Im in my early 40's and it just doesnt appeal to me which sucks because it really looks like a awesome game.
@ellsworth004 It's nice to hear I'm not the only one, because it's does bother me with Persona, I genuinely really want to like it.
I feel though, that this caters 100% to the young market only, and the narrative felt condescending at times to someone who is maybe a bit older, and wiser (I.E each of the baddies felt like it was a life lesson on what not to do, or behave, and were just things that came across as obvious, and slightly insulting to my intelligence).
Like I said, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, and was probably designed to appeal to a younger audience, and in that respect I can see why its so highly praised for not just great production value, but good moral standards, interesting gameplay mechanics and a sprawling interactive environment to explore.
Meh, I'm just getting old and grumpy probably... haha
Loved the original and dearly wish I had time but play through another version, but I really don't at the moment. Might pick it up eventually though, especially if it comes to Switch.
Well, this old geezer loved it, and when I say old, I mean I go all the way back to typing programs into my Commodore 64 from the pages of Compute!'s Gazette.
Is the game youth-centric? Well, yeah; if there's any place in the story where Ryuji uses the word "adults" without preceding it with a scatological epithet, I can't recall it off the top of my head.
But the themes the story deals with, are universal, regardless of your age. Makoto's observation that "Having the freedom to not make decisions, only means that someone else is controlling you" might well be one of the best arguments for individual dignity in the entire history of the medium.
It's definitely a story that was worth the telling, and worth every minute I spent experiencing it. And when you look back from the end of it, you realize there was just no other way to have told it.
C.S. Lewis dedicated "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," to his niece, Lucy Barfield. (Stick with me on this.) In the dedication, he wrote that "someday, you will be old enough for fairy tales again," and I'd encourage you to approach Persona 5 in the same way.
Honestly, I wish I'd had a group of friends like the Phantom Thieves, back when I was in high school. And I wouldn't be able to say that, if the writing weren't as good as it is.
And the openness of the original ending, which ultimately wraps on the idea that these kids now have their entire lives ahead of them, is as hopeful as it is bittersweet...a perspective I don't think I would even have, if I were half my current age.
Don't write this game off as a jejune celebration of contemporary youthful folly. It's anything but that.
And to the other point, yes, the prologue is kind of ridiculous, but you really do need to just go with it. Most of the main story is told in the form of an extended flashback, and the opening sequence is designed to set up the narrative framing.
This game ultimately earns its M rating, but in a good way.
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