Persona 5

Persona 5 is the sixth game in the Persona series. It is a role-playing game developed by Atlus' P-Studio.

Persona 5 follows a group of troubled high school students: the protagonist and a collection of compatriots he meets. These disturbed and troubled teenagers gradually realize that are living in a toxic and dangerous world resembling a corrupt prison full of slavery, oppression and injustice. They can't live with the system and can't live without it, and are at risk of being doomed to a life of slavery.

In order to seek freedom, liberation and justice, they live dual lives as rebellious Phantom Thieves of Hearts. They undertake fantastical adventures by using otherworldly powers to enter the hearts of people (specifically, corrupt adults in positions of power) in order to re-shape and transform them. The Phantom Thieves realize that society forces people to wear masks to protect their inner vulnerabilities, and by literally ripping off their protective mask to unleash their Personas and confronting their inner selves do the heroes awaken their inner power, and using it to help those in need. Ultimately, the group of Phantom Thieves seeks to change their day-to-day world to match their perception, end slavery and see through the masks modern society wears.

Plot


The story focuses on the 16-year-old protagonist after he is transferred to Shujin Academy in Tokyo, Japan.

In the prologue, the protagonist is seen confronting a man harassing a woman, and subsequently being detained by the police because of the injuries he inflicts on that man. The protagonist is then sentenced to probation and is sent to Tokyo to attend Shujin.

He is currently staying with Sojiro Sakura, his parents' friend, at a coffee shop called Cafe Le Blanc. At Shujin, the protagonist meets problem student Ryuji Sakamoto and his classmate Ann Takamaki. The protagonist also meets a talking, shape-shifting cat-like creature known as Morgana, who accompanies him everywhere he goes. The protagonist also finds a place called the Velvet Room, where he is also on probation by Igor, Caroline and Justine.



During the protagonist's time there, he, Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann awaken to their Personas and form the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts". Feeling suppressed by their environment, the thieves work together to plan illegal heists and explore The Palace, which represents the distorted corrupted minds of adults, and the goal of the heroes is to steal hidden "treasure" from the world in order to reform their targets. The Palace is full of hideous monsters called Shadows, which are born, manifested and thrive from the darkness in humanity's hearts. Their first target is a corrupt teacher, Suguru Kamoshida.

Later, more Persona-users join the Phantom Thieves to face more targets.

Art student Yusuke Kitagawa faces Ichiryusai Madarame.

Student council president Makoto Niijima faces Junya Kaneshiro.

Shut-in Futaba Sakura faces Wakaba Isshiki.

Rich girl Haru Okumura faces her own father Kunikazu Okumura.

The mysterious Goro Akechi join the Phantom Thieves.

Themes


While the focus and main theme of Persona 3 is death and the focus of Persona 4 is identity and seeking truth, the main theme of Persona 5 is breaking free from slavery to corrupted adults from the school, prestige class, gang, corporation, government and politics. Persona 5 will discuss the hardships of modern-day 21st century society and feature characters that are restrained by the rules set by this society, especially in Japan where the game is set. This freedom is meant to liberate those who "are bored and discontent with their lives".



Atlus expects and wants players of Persona 3 and Persona 4 to feel at home with the game. Persona 5 is meant to be an emotional experience that stirs up its audience and finally lets them go with a strong message of catharsis after everything is said and done.

The bosses are themed after the Seven Deadly Sins.

Playable Characters

 * Protagonist / The Phantom: The player character and also a delinquent moonlighting as a gentleman thief. He wears a bird mask and uses knives and handguns in combat. His Persona is Arsène, after the literary gentleman thief of the same name.
 * Ryuji Sakamoto: A boy who attends the protagonist's school and joins him in his heists. He wears a skull mask and wields bludgeons and shotguns as weapons. His Persona is Captain Kidd, after the notorious privateer-turned-pirate.
 * Ann Takamaki: A girl in the protagonist's homeroom who joins him in his heists. She wears a cat mask and uses whips and sub-machine guns. Her Persona is Carmen, after the heroine of the novella of the same name.
 * Morgana: A shape-shifting cat-like creature that meets the protagonist at the start of the game and joins him in his heists; he has some sort of connection to the Seven Deadly Sins and will play a key role in the story. He wields cutlasses and slingshots. His Persona is Zorro, after the literary outlaw.
 * Yusuke Kitagawa: An art student. He wears a fox mask and uses katanas and rifles. His Persona is Goemon, after the legendary Japanese bandit.
 * Makoto Niijima: The student council president, a girl with a strong sense of justice. Uses brass knuckles and revolvers. Her Persona is Johanna, after the legendary Medieval female Pope.
 * Futaba Sakura: A bespectacled girl with orange hair who is the dungeon navigator. She participates in battle through her Persona Necronomicon, named after a mystical book from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
 * Haru Okumura: A third-year student and daughter of a major food manufacturer, she is refined but has seen little of life. She fights using axes and grenade launchers. Her Persona is Milady, after the antagonist Milady DeWinter from The Three Musketeers.
 * Goro Akechi: A high school student and a detective investigating the case. His Persona is Robin Hood.

Supporting Characters

 * Igor: The man who operates the Velvet Room.
 * Caroline and Justine: Two young assistants to Igor in the Velvet Room. They both wear an eyepatch over one of their eyes and a blue prison guard outfit. One has a long braid, the other hair buns.
 * Sojiro Sakura: Owner of a coffee shop Cafe Le Blanc and a friend of the protagonist's parents' who looks after him while he is in Tokyo.
 * Sae Niijima: Makoto's older sister and a Public Prosecutor responsible for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' case.
 * Masayoshi Shido: A powerful politician who threatens to use his connections to sue anyone who stands against him as he did with the protagonist before the events of the game.

Daily life


Like Persona 3 and Persona 4, the story takes place over the course of a year and the player must balance high school life and saving the world.

The Protagonist lives in the attic of Cafe Le Blanc. The player can explore various locations in the Greater Tokyo Area and travel using the subway system. The player can take part-time jobs, play video games, go out with friends, go to restaurants, study, go to the movies, play baseball, go to the bathhouse, fishing, exercise in your own home or go to the gym, make equipment in battle, messages, watch TV, go to the clinic. These certain activities can increase the player's stat performance such as their Max HP and SP. There are also a variety of minigames.



The SNS system allows the player to chat with other characters using phone text messages, helping the player to learn more about the personalities and background of other characters.

The Confidant system is similar to the Social Links of Persona 3 and Persona 4 and involves building relationships with helpers around the city for various benefits in the Palace as well as battle.

Dungeon and combat


During the prologue, the player can select the difficulty from "Safety", "Easy", "Normal" and "Hard". Except for Safety difficulty, the rest can be changed at any time similar to Persona 4 Golden. An additional "Challenge" difficulty above Hard is available as free DLC.

The player engages in strategic combat with demons called Shadows of using both melee and ranged weapons, instead of only one type of weapon.

A side quest dungeon called Mementos is where the player can traverse by driving a vehicle transformed from Morgana where they can collect treasures, obtain Personas which are present in the previously collapsed Palaces and steal the hearts of the targets submitted to the Phantom Thief Channel.

The Palace of every arc of the main story line has certain deadline to complete like Persona 4. Fail to complete the Palace before the deadline will result in a "false ending" Game Over scene. All Palaces except Mementos are not randomly generated, they features elements of platforming, puzzles, stealth and traps.

The game also brings back the old way of interacting with the enemy: Negotiation for obtaining Persona, money and item, a feature returning from absence since Persona 2, in vein with the Shin Megami Tensei games. Negotiation or All-Out Attack can be initiated during a "Hold Up" when all remaining enemies are knocked down. If all enemies are defeated in that All-Out Attack, the game will play a finishing touch sequence featuring the party member who has knocked down the last enemy.



When the player has knocked down the enemy, a new feature called "Baton Pass" where player can pass the "1 More" turn to another combatant to boost up their stats during that turn.

Battle can be initiated when the player is in stealth mode and ambushes the enemy by surprise which gives preemptive turn. If the player fails in stealth, the security level will increase. A spotlight will follow the player which causes the enemies to pursue the player persistently. After the victory in a battle, the spotlight will stop chasing the player. If the player successfully performs another ambush attack, security level will drop slightly. When security level reaches 100%, the player is forced to leave the dungeon. The next time the player enters the same dungeon again the security level will drop by a portion.



Unlike traditional RPG where the player has to go though layers of menus in order to give a command in battle, Persona 5 features an improved UI which offers shortcuts to major commands like melee attack, gun attack, Persona skills, items, guard and tactical order. Instead of navigating a wheel in Persona 3 or a vertical list in Persona 4, choices are now a button press away, allowing for fast-paced action. The player can now switch party members inside the dungeons. On the other hand, switching party members in battle requires specific Confidant abilities.

Online features
The Phantom Thieves Alliance allows online players to share and receive information about what kind of activities they take. A pie chart will show the percentage of all online players venturing the Palace, improving social performance or participating Confidant event.

In Japan


Persona 5 was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan for 8,800 yen on September 15, 2016.

A 13,800 yen 20th Anniversary Edition includes the following additional content:
 * A copy of Persona 5
 * Persona 5 art book
 * Persona 20th Anniversary All Time Best Album (five CDs)
 * Disc 1: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
 * Disc 2: Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
 * Disc 3: Persona 3 (FES)
 * Disc 4: Persona 4 (The Golden)
 * Disc 5: Persona 5


 * Special Collaboration DLC Set #1: “Orpheus Picaro” and “Izanagi Picaro”
 * Special Collaboration DLC Set #2: Persona 3 “Gekkoukan High School Uniform” costumes and Persona 3 battle BGM set
 * Special Collaboration DLC Set #3: Persona 4 “Yasogami High School Uniform” costumes and Persona 4 battle BGM set
 * Special Custom Theme
 * Special Persona 5 Art treasure box

Persona 5 (standard version) is bundled with PlayStation 4 Slim (1 TB) in a limited package as Sony announces the Slim models of PS4 in September 2016. The package was sold for 39,980 yen on the day of the game's initial release, which is 5,000 yen more than buying the console alone but saves 3,800 yen than buying the standard version of the game and the console separately.

In North America and Europe
Persona 5 will launch for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in both North America and Europe on April 4th, 2017. There are three editions for both North America and Europe. It will include japanese voice acting as a free DLC.

Take Your Heart Premium Edition


Exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of the game, the "Take Your Heart" edition, also known as the premium version with the most content, will include:


 * Soundtrack CD: A selection of music from Persona 5 by legendary series composer, Shoji Meguro, in a CD sleeve featuring special P5 artwork.
 * 4” Morgana plush: Morgana the Phantom Thieves’ cat is not just the mascot of the Phantom Thieves, but also a member – and also not just a cat! The premium edition includes an exclusive 4” plush of Morgana.
 * 64-page hardcover art book: This art book is full of concept sketches, character art, and more by character designer Shigenori Soejima.
 * SteelBook: As strong as a vault, the game disc for the PS4 will come specially packaged in a SteelBook collectible case, emblazoned with Persona 5 designs.
 * School bag: Designed after the traditional school bags in Japan, the exclusive replica bag comes complete with the Shujin Academy crest.

SteelBook Launch Edition


Exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of the game, Atlus will release Persona 5 in a special SteelBook Launch Edition. All pre-orders and a very limited number of launch copies will come in an official, collectible SteelBook case, adorned with Persona 5 art identical to the one in the “Take Your Heart” Premium Edition.

Normal
All other versions of Persona 5 contain simply the base game.

Development
The game was first mentioned to be under development in August 2011 in an interview with Katsura Hashino, the producer of the Persona series. Hashino confirmed that the basic preparations for the development were finished and announced the return of Shigenori Soejima and Shoji Meguro as character designer and music composer, respectively. Both Soejima and Meguro previously worked together with Hashino on Persona 3, Persona 4 and Catherine. Hashino's original concept was about "backpacking and flying all over the world", but after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami occurred, he wanted a closer focus on Japan.

Unlike Catherine, which used the Gamebryo engine, Persona 5 uses an in-house custom-made engine. Before it was decided that the game would be released exclusively for the PlayStation 3, it was also discussed internally to move the series to mobile gaming devices like the PlayStation Vita or smartphones. Eventually, Hashino and his team chose the PlayStation 3 as they felt that fans would love to see another game for home consoles.

Persona 5 was officially revealed on November 24, 2013 following a 72-hour countdown that eventually resulted in a series of announcements that included Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona 4: Dancing All Night. A Persona 5 website domain was previously registered on June 25th, 2013 by Index Corporation, the former parent company of Atlus. An American release was confirmed on February 25, 2014 with an originally estimated release in 2015. A PlayStation 4 version of the game was announced on September 1, 2014 during Sony's Tokyo Game Show conference with a new trailer that gave a first look on the setting and the game's protagonist. A bonus Blu-Ray containing a variety of Persona 5 related content was released as preorder bonus for the Japanese version of Persona 4: Dancing All Night on June 25, 2015, which also included the second trailer for the game.

On September 17, 2015 a third trailer for Persona 5 was shown as part of the company's Tokyo Game Show 2015 broadcast which revealed that the release date would be postponed to Summer 2016. According to Katsura Hashino, this decision was made so that game could become the biggest out of all the games he has directed so far.

Initially the oversea versions were scheduled for February 14, 2017. In the beginning of the official live stream of the English version demo on November 16, 2016, Atlus announced that because they wanted to set a new height of localization standard, the release date was pushed back to April 4, 2017. Atlus USA explains that extra time was required for revision of the script as well as recording some voices again. The fact that Atlus Japan only handed over the complete script for Atlus USA to begin localization also contributed to the delay. In compensation for the delay, the game had been reprogramed to support dual audio option and the Japanese voice set is available as free downloadable content permanently. This is the first ever entry in the entire Megami Tensei series to support dual audio.

Related Media
An anime about half an hour long, titled Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers, was released on September 3rd, 2016.

Collaborations with other games

 *  (multiplayer action game by Capcom) includes character skins of Joker and Panther.
 *  (multiplayer action game by Sega) includes attires and character animations of the protagonist/Joker, Ann, Makoto and Futaba, pet Arsene and posters of Persona 5.
 *  (card game on arcade machine by Square-Enix) includes cards of Joker, Panther, Fox, Caroline and Justine.
 *  (mobile/handheld RPG by Sega)

Videos
Teaser 1= Teaser 2= PV1= PV2= PV3= PV4= TGS Interview= Staff Interview= E3 Trailer (PV4 subtitled)= Opening Animation= Persona summons= Fishing minigame= Public bath=

Trivia

 * Unlike previous Persona titles, which were set in fictional locations, Persona 5 takes place in Tokyo, primarily in the Shibuya ward. A lot of the locales in Persona 5 are heavily based on real life Tokyo.
 * The dates shown in gameplay footage line up correctly with the 2016 calendar; however, the calendar in the game displays the year as 20XX, leaving the exact year ambiguous.
 * According to Hashino, Persona 5 will have the most content out of any of the games he has directed. During an interview with Hashino, Persona 5 is said to have more hours of gameplay than the previous Persona titles to keep long-time fans and newcomers interested. According to Famitsu reviews, the game offers 80 hours of gameplay.
 * The box art of Persona 5 has a similar style to Persona 4's, in that the main cast is featured surrounding the Protagonist, who stands at the front of the group, with the game's setting and the Protagonist's Persona in the background.
 * Persona 5 includes Nuclear and Psy elemental skills, along with the Kouha and Eiha lines of Light/Dark skills, which have not been seen in the franchise since the Persona 2 duology, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, and the original Megami Ibunroku Persona, respectively.
 * The Arcana written on the tarot cards use French instead of English, matching the French origin of most initial Personas such as Arsène, Carmen and Milady.
 * On September 7th, 2016, Famitsu scored Persona 5 39/40 (10/10/9/10), making this the highest rated Persona game to date.