2020-04-01T16:27:21 02:00

Persona 5 Royal: 12 tips for survival in the JRPG

In this tips guide for Persona 5 Royal you will learn:

How to increase your social stats without wasting time
Help with tests and lessons
Why the teacher Kawakami is important

Persona 5 Royal () represents an expanded and improved version of Persona 5, which was released in Germany in 2017. In Royal, not only are all DLCs included, but also new characters and a new dungeon. To make sure you survive the school life at Shujin Academy well and have a few advantages in the next Palace, we'll show you a few tips and tricks for the JRPG, which is exclusively available on the PlayStation 4 ().

Basic terms in Persona 5 Royal explained:

If Persona 5 is the very first game in the JRPG series that you're getting into, we've explained the most important basic terms for you. If you already know, click through to the actual tips.

- Persona: Personas are creatures that reflect a person's personality. They can be summoned by some characters in the Persona game series and used in battle.
- Hold Up: When an NPC is incapacitated by an attack, you can bargain with him. Either ask him for an item or money, or try to gain his trust and thus his Persona. If you'd rather end things right away, you can also switch to an all-out team attack, which will usually finish off your opponent.

Fusion: By combining multiple Personas, you'll be able to get much more powerful creatures. These can then in turn be combined with other Personas.
Familiars: These are special NPCs with whom you build relationships - formerly known as social links - that are of great importance to the gameplay.

1. How to collect more Personas

Similar to Pokémon Shield (), it pays to have variety. The more Personas you have, the more options you have for valuable fusions as the game progresses. So collect every new creature you meet. Unlike the pocket monsters in Pokémon, Personas have identical stats.

Once all the opponents in a battle have been defeated, there is a so-called "Hold Up". This is when you step up close to the enemy and have a conversation or activate a devastating special attack. If you decide against the attack, you are left with various actions:

Offer Association: Offer a persona to join your team. But before this deal works out, the enemy wants to have a chat. Mona and Oracle will give you hints about the persona's attitude throughout the game, so you can adjust your answers accordingly. If the conversation goes satisfactorily, you'll receive a new mask. If not, the conversation will turn into an attack. If your level is not high enough to accept the persona, it will give you an item as a consolation and disappear. If, on the other hand, you already have the mask, a conversation is still worthwhile, because with each additional persona of a kind, you strengthen your companion.

Ask for money: Instead of hitting a persona, you can make a deal. Money for life. This will give you significantly more coins, but the experience points for this fight will be measly.
Ask foran item: This is like asking for money. Items received this way are usually rather worthless, so it's not really worth it.

2. Use the fusions in Persona 5 Royal

A majority of the Personas you can grab at the beginning of your playthrough of Persona 5 Royal can later be fused into much more powerful companions. These can be additionally leveled up or changed as desired - so there's a lot to do in the Velvet Room! Remember to register your Personas beforehand so that you can summon them again (for a fee) if necessary.

3. Tips & tricks for the fights

It is not only the health bar of your own character and his teammates that you have to keep an eye on during battles. The same applies to the bar with the SP, which is needed for type attacks. While HP is easily restored by items, SP regeneration is more difficult.

Also, pay attention to the enemy's weaknesses so that you can use a technical attack to deal extra damage in case of a status effect.

4. How do I regenerate SP?

During trips to the Palace, your SP bar will drop very quickly, but there are hardly any items to restore it. Every now and then you can get small cans of 5 or 10 points of SP restoration from drink machines. Takemi also sells items in the clinic once you have reached the appropriate level. At Café Leblanc, you can either make your own coffee or have Kawakami make some for you. The more often you make coffee and practice with Sojiro, the higher quality the coffee will be and fill up more SP.

Also, special abilities of Personas can automatically regenerate SP while you are in the Palace. If these options are not enough, the only way left is to get out of the Palace. Upon exiting, you will regenerate completely.

5. Spend longer time in Mementos

Mementos is the cognitive world of all the people who cannot create their own Palace and is used to complete side quests in the game. As you make your way through the underground rail system, you'll collect all sorts of stuff: items, treasure chests, stamps, and flowers. Some of it you can exchange with the traveling merchant Jose.

Especially the flowers are interesting, because they can be exchanged for SP items. However, your flower score will be erased as soon as you leave Mementos. So be sure to visit Jose on your way home and exchange them for his goods. Arguably the best item, Jose's costs80flowers and replenishes your SP bar considerably.

6. How do I delay sleep in Persona 5 Royal?

In Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, you are not allowed to skip sleep, but you can delay it. When you get home from an afternoon activity, there's often time for a game of darts at the pub or at least to do laundry across the street. If you really don't want to leave the house, fiddling around at the workbench is always a good idea. Make as many infiltration tools as possible so that you always have enough to open treasure chests.

On the other hand, when you get home after exploring the Palace, you'll be too exhausted to do much. You can, however, do a crossword puzzle at Café Leblanc (not available every day!), for example, or pay attention to your plant. In the course of the game it is also possible to be massaged by Kawakami to be quickly awake again. The paid massage recharges your batteries so you can complete other activities after a dungeon.

7. How do I get additional familiars?

In addition to fighting nasty monsters in scary dungeons, in Persona 5 you manage the social life of a teenager. Apart from school, this includes leisure activities, side jobs and relationships with other characters, the so-called familiars.

Therefore, always respond to the invitations of NPCs. This way you'll increase your reputation, get useful items or get to new places in Tokyo. To improve a relationship, small gifts for familiars help. We have a Persona 5 gift guide for you that explains the system in more detail.

Not every character is immediately excited about the idea of befriending you. Still, keep your eye on the ball and make sure that your charm and intelligence values increase. Then you'll have a better chance of making friends.

8. What are the advantages of having familiars in combat?

The more time you spend with your familiars in Persona 5 Royal, the more advantages they will give you in the game. This is especially handy in battles, because a good connection with other team members allows for even more powerful attacks or a second chance if negotiations with a shadow fail.

Familiars outside the team will passively help you in combat by selling more healing items, increasing money and experience in the Palace, or protecting you from devastating attacks.

9. Spend time with Kawakami

Your teacher Kawakami can do more than just teach you the subject matter. But beware: the next few lines are a bit of a spoiler about the familiar Kawakami, so it's best not to read the following words until you've revealed the teacher's side job.

Relatively early in the story, you'll be able to use the yellow phone in the café to call Kawakami at her maid job and hire her. She will clean your room or complain about her hard life. If you spend more time with the maid, she will cook coffee or curry for you later. If you reach level 10, Kawakami additionally offers relaxing massages that will make you fit again after visiting a dungeon.

10. Why should I read books in Persona 5?

In Persona 5, you have many ways to pass the time. Reading a book sounds almost boring. But that's not true! Pick up a read whenever you can, because it doesn't just increase your knowledge. Travel guides reveal new places on the map. Once you've read about them, you'll be able to spend time there with a date.

You also have important exams coming up at school. The more books you read beforehand, the better you will do.

11. How do I answer the test questions at school correctly?

In between exploring the dungeons, you must go to Shujin Academy during the day as a normal student and study. In class, you will be asked from time to time by a teacher to answer a test question. These can be quite tricky at times, but there is a trick to cheating.

Pressing the touchpad on your controller opens the Thieves Guild. It shows you how other players have answered in this situation. Of course, there is still a chance that the majority is wrong. But what do you have to lose? You can also see how other players spent their time in the Thieves Guild at any time during the lesson. Use it as inspiration if you ever get bored.

If you're looking for answers for exams & lessons in Persona 5, check out the matching guide.

12. The easiest ways to improve social stats

No question - increasing your social stats is enormously important for progress in Persona 5 Royal. However, every action costs a lot of time and that is in real short supply in the role-playing game. So what should you do? Use every opportunity that presents itself to collect as many points as possible without spending a lot of time! There are some actions in the game that don't cost you any time and still let you jump a note or two.

Check out the tables at Café Leblanc every day. On the last table before the stairs there is occasionally a crossword puzzle. This can be completed without spending extra time and will earn you knowledge points.
If you want to study, it's best to do so in the school library. In the beginning, you will be unpopular at Shujin Academy, and opening the book there will earn you extra courage points. Later, you'll only get knowledge points for it.
On Sundays, the smoothie stand in the station underpass sells a special juice. Most of the time the drink tastes disgusting and is quite expensive, but increases your social stats for it without spending any time.

More information about the soft skills can be found in our guide: Persona 5 Royal: Improve Social Stats