Tie-Ins To All Other Persona Games
Initially, Persona 3 and Persona 4 seemed to have almost nothing to do with each other outside of being of the same name, and both worlds colliding at a small field trip in 3. However, in the downtime between Persona 4 and Persona 5, Atlus has been knitting together the tales of Persona 3 and Persona 4 with the Persona 4 Arena games and Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.
After all this effort joining the universes together, it would only make sense for Persona 5 to continue this trend; furthermore, it should also tie in Persona 1 and Persona 2 since they are still almost without mention in the rest of the series at large. The incredible change in tone would also make it more appealing for interactions with the other Persona users from previous games to see how they react.
Demon Negotiation
Speaking of Persona 2…
For those not in the know, a key aspect of the Shin Megami Tensei series at large is attempting to woo demons to your side during battle through discussion and the trading of gifts. Demon negotiation was also in Persona 1 and Persona 2, but fell by the wayside in favor of a focus on Persona fusion in Persona 3 and onwards. Again, with a change in the series’ formula coming, now would be an excellent time to re-incorporate negotiation into the game alongside the stealth gameplay and turn-based battles. We’ve already seen that Personas will be enemies in the game from the trailer, so the possibility of negotiation making a comeback isn’t too out there.
Non-Mandatory Stealth Gameplay
From the looks of the trailer, being able to stealth your way through a dungeon will be an option. It would be excellent if instead of mandatory stealth sections during dungeons, the option to stealth is always available. To encourage players to use stealth, they could offer XP bonuses or even special weapons and costumes as rewards.
Either way, the key point to take away from this is that stealth gameplay should not be mandatory. Nothing kills the entertainment of stealth gameplay more than making it necessary to proceed, because the player then doesn’t feel like they did well for passing the section. It was necessary to proceed, so repeated failures just ends up being frustrating. Do yourself a favor, Atlus. Make it an option rather than a necessity.
Non-Normative Arcana For Party Members
Persona 3 and Persona 4 both had an interesting cast of characters, but your party generally fell within the same parameters for their associated arcana. The attractive female is The Lovers, the beefy guy is The Emperor, the quirky best friend is The Magician, etc. Since the morality of the party in Persona 5 seems to be different compared to the parties in Persona 3 and Persona 4, it would be good if the parties also had different arcana. Atlus could do this in two ways. One, they could have different arcana entirely, utilizing arcana that weren’t in the party before, such as The Devil, The Moon, or The Hierophant.
Alternatively, they could also make the arcana be associated with different personality types; for example, The Lovers could belong to a shy boy, or The Emperor belonging to someone with a quiet strength. Either way, Atlus should shake up the party somehow, and this is a quick and interesting way to do that.
A Speaking Protagonist
This is a big one. In all the discussion of Persona 5, we understand that the protagonist is going to be a much more active participant in the plot and the world he lives in than either of the previous protagonists. He has some sort of mental block that he is trying to work through, hence the prison theming. He is also the one who seems to draw his friends into a life of crime. As a result, just having everyone talk for him aside from the occasional multi-choice quip won’t do. Silent protagonists worked for the last two games because they did not seem to have backstory or personal motivation until late in the game; this allowed the player to insert themselves into the shoes of the protagonist instead.
The Persona 5 protagonist does, however, and the more backstory and motivation the protagonist has the less that the player is able to pretend to be him. The protagonist needs to be able to speak and interact with the characters around him if Persona 5 is going to work. Now, I’m not saying that Persona 5 should get rid of player choice entirely; all I’m asking is that the P5 protagonist speaks and interacts directly so we can understand him better.
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