New Persona 5 Information (S.Links, Dungeons, Plot Details)

Atlus recently shared a look at Persona 5’s new trailer, where we got to see more from the game, along with some new characters that will be a part of it. In this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine, we get more details on the story and setting. [Thanks, Hachima]

• The game starts out in Shibuya, but the stage is set in various parts of Tokyo.
• The protagonist is a second-year high school student, who transfers to the city during the spring (around the time of the start of a new school year in Japan.) He’ll move into a coffee shop owned by acquaintances of his parents.
• This is a vague hint, but for what it’s worth, the protagonist has some sort of problem that will lead to trouble down the line if he doesn’t fight it. The part of the recent trailer that showed him imprisoned was a symbol for a “prison of mind”.
• The dungeon that was shown in the trailer was not automatically-generated, and the story will have various main places that are suitable for a challenge to a phantom thief with all kinds of stages and gimmicks. However, this doesn’t mean there won’t be any auto-generated elements in game
• There will be some sort of Social Link-like feature in Persona 5.
• The protagonist’s first exclusively usable Persona is named “Arsène”. This is likely derived from the famous phantom thief, Arsène Lupin.
• In previous titles, the Persona summoning scene had the Japanese onomatopoeia of “カッ” (kka) which is something often used to depict a flash or clicking sound. In Persona 5, it’s “ブチッ” (buchi) which is a snapping sound (either physically or mentally).

SOURCE

Okay, first off, I actually guessed his Persona's name right! Woohoo!

Secondly, this all just sounds amazing. Atlus is displaying a surprising clarity of vision here, and it sounds like they are aware of the issues with Persona 3 and 4, and are working on fixing those (notably the dungeons).

Just give me the release date, guys.

News Flash: This game is going to be amazing.

So i guess S. Links aren't going to be like previous games. Maybe.

Yeah, it's important to remember, he did not say S.Links will be in the game- he said something like them will be. This, coupled with the name change (Cooperation instead of Community) makes me think that we are going to see a shift in how they work.

Hopefully they are more dynamic and integrated into the story now.

Release this already!

I am hoping for a PS4 Tales of game to be announced this year.. do it Namco!

oh yeah i forgot to mention... ONLY ON PlayStation.

They're probably going to announce a more complete 'F' version of Tales of Zestiria for PS4, so it sounds like you will get your wish lol.

Hope so!!

That and Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD on PS4 ( seeing how FFX HD coming to PS4 this year, it shouldnt be too long till KH follow suit )

If they do decide to do KH, I suspect they will start with 1.5 HD first.

Honestly, i only know about p3 and p4 from videos and some reading, but, i already had a theory that p5 would be different.

I mean, you're playign a juvenile delinquent with an apparent personality (maybe he's voiced), in a very rough city with party members that, according to the director, aren't the nicest people (probably rebelious teens, ugh). Plus, apparently there won't be an evil god to defeat in the same vein of p3 and p4, but instead a more internal conflict.

Plus all this stuff about being a thief. I can imagine Persona 5 might tone down on the "high school" sim stuff i keep reading about, to focus more on Heist planning/executing (GTA 5 much?)

@deadline-zero0: They won't tone down the social interactions, that has always been the point of the series, and that is the central reason for its popularity. My assumption instead is that they will change the mechanics and narrative context, so they take on a different meaning. As in, instead of there being bonds that you need to form with others to help with Persona fusion, there will be other reasons to do it too, which work within the context of the story as well- maybe you need to work on your S.Links with characters before you even get the option to recruit them to your gang, for example. Or maybe their behavior during heists is determined by how close they are to you, for example (they'd be much more likely to just save their own skin if you never bothered leveling up their S.Link, realistically speaking).

As for there not being a metaphysical theme in the game... yeah, that's unlikely, I'll be honest, there will be some sort of god or divine being involved in the story by the end. Remember, Persona 4 was ostensibly a murder mystery, and it still ended up going all metaphysical, thematically.

And I wouldn't worry about tropes or cliches like rebellious teenagers, honestly. Persona has handled loads of awful tropes and cliches before, and it usually manages to do it very well, in a way that is not cringe inducing.

@charizard1605: I meant in teh sense that it won't be a normla teenagers "life sim". I mean, that's what i got from conversation with you and others about Persona.

You got to school clubs, do part time jobs, activities, bond with people over dialogue choices and rank up Arcanas and shit.

So in P5, these activities might still be there, but subverted to fit with the criminal/delinquent themes more.

Also, i got it. You increase s. links by doing heists with them, and bond over it

"Char, i love stealing stuff with you. I've never felt so good and free."

*you're bond with Chie has increase. rank up*

"Let's steal more stuff together in the future"

i'm only half joking

10/10, would play again.

I'd actualy be really interested in the game if there was a connection between the "character bonding" element and "heist" element.

The setting and themes are defintielly unique, with the whole Lupin inpiration. I definitelly have to give to Persona on that. The artstyle for the Personas, menus, color schemes, etc, are really nice.

But we'll see how it goes.

Sounds like something you expect from the series but still great.

Don't wanna sound like an arse, but I was kinda hoping they'd go for Lupin instead of Arsene, you know, for obvious reasons >_>

The Josephine thingie I spoke of in the reveal trailer thread has a chance of happening! :D

"the protagonist has some sort of problem that will lead to trouble down the line if he doesn’t fight it. The part of the recent trailer that showed him imprisoned was a symbol for a “prison of mind”

^ meaning the Protagonist has some sort of psychological problem/addiction with a particular deadly sin?

The game is going to age graphically better than many games in 2015

Found more updates.

One thing I love about Persona 3 and 4 is the very catchy music, I hope they still have simularly good music in this game.

I'd say the things I liked the most in P3 and P4 are character interractions and music.. so if those two are good in this new game then that will be a huge plus for me.