As many would expect, a massive JRPG such as Persona 5 is chocked full of content that can extend your first playthrough past the hundred hour mark. There’s no doubt newcomers will struggle to understand the underlying game mechanics without reading the excessive amount of tutorials thrown at the player during the first ten hours of the game. Although these tutorials do a superb job at breaking down the basics, the player is still left searching for answers when it comes to some of the more complex topics.
Whether or not you’re a Persona 5 fan, we all know how incredibly frustrating it can be to constantly face a barrier when playing a video game. Here are five tips that will help you gain the courage to become the best Phantom Thief in the world.
1. Focus On The Best Social Links
There are dozens of different confidants you can pursue in Persona 5, but knowing which of them have the best cooperation perks can be a bit of a challenge. One of the most useful co-op’s is the Sun arcana route, which will help you you easily negotiate with shadows in a dungeon. In return, you will be able to get more items and cash from shadows. To unlock the Sun arcana, talk to a politician named Yoshida in front of the train station at Shibuya. Next, you must get a part-time job at the Beef Bowl restaurant. Upon going to work for the second time, Yoshida will speak with you at the restaurant. From there on out, he will always be available for a chat in front of the train station.
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Another co-op that will greatly assist you is the Temperance arcana route. By leveling up the Temperance arcana, you will be able to use school time to read a book, study or craft tools. All of these abilities will help you quickly max out your social stats. The Temperance co-op will open up after you clear the second Palace on or around May 24th. You’ll eventually come across a special event where you must call up a maid service with your friends. Once the event is cleared, the protagonist will be able to chat with the maid on a regular basis by calling her from the phone at the Le Blanc cafe.
2. Come Prepared For A Fight
Before you’re ready to enter a Palace for the first time, you must first consider what lies inside. Not only will you face dangerous shadows, but you’ll also run into locked treasure chests and the occasional mini-boss. The best way to begin preparing for these encounters is by stocking up on HP/SP boosting items, along with chest keys. You should also register an unused Persona in the Velvet Room and then immediately discard it. This will create extra room in your inventory for additional Persona’s to be added. You never know what kind of jaw-dropping Persona you’ll come across while navigating through the Palace.
In order to stock up on health potions, I suggest gaining a basic social link with Tae Takemi who is responsible for the Death arcana. Her shady medical supplies are more potent than the stuff you’ll come across while browsing a market or vending machine. For mana potions, I suggest doing Sojiro Sakura’s cooperation to unlock the brewing ability at the Le Blanc cafe. The coffee you brew will help restore a large portion of magic during battle. As for those pesky locked treasure chests, you will find a crafting table in your bedroom which can be used to create chest keys, provided you have the necessary materials.
3. Interact With Everything
In Persona 5, there are several trivial sources of information scattered all around the city. This can range from a special NPC to an eroded sign on the wall. It’s never a bad idea to walk up to an interactive dialogue marker and expand the text. For example, there is a DVD rental shop in Shibuya named Scarlet but you cannot rent anything from there until you have a television set. There is a junk shop across the street from the Le Blanc cafe which sells the TV set, although the game does not tell you this bit of information. Instead, players are encouraged to fully explore their surroundings.
Occasionally you will come across two NPC’s bickering among each other in the school hallway. If you decide to listen in on their conversation, you may hear about a special sale going on at the Underground Walkway or another nearby location. These deals only occur on certain days of the week and the item being sold is usually more than beneficial for your party members. Additionally, we suggest interacting with the toilet found inside the Velvet Room prison cell for a nice surprise.
4. Take Advantage Of Your Spare Time
As a part-time student and Phantom Thief, you will be required to maintain a balance between your daily activities. Due to the monthly in-game calendar, each move you make on a day to day basis has a wide impact on your social life. The calendar stops once you reach the endgame around December, so it’s best to try and max out all your social links prior to that month.
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When you have the day off from school, use the extra time for recreational activities or hanging out with your friends instead of going directly to bed at the cafe. During the course of the year, you will meet several social links that will provide assistance down the road. If you decide to boost the social link with Sojiro Sakura at the Le Blanc cafe, you’ll be able to go outside during the evening. The evenings are normally restricted to traveling between the Yongen-Jaya area and the Le Blanc cafe, but leveling up this social link will create an opening for you to hang out with other confidants across Shibuya and the nearby districts.
5. Remember To Use The Third-Eye
Early into the game, you will gain access to an ability called the ‘Third Eye’ by advancing the Fool arcana with Igor inside the Velvet Room. By using the Third Eye, you can detect clues, items and other important objects within the vicinity. This ability was mainly designed to be used inside a Palace, but can also be used in the real world to detect NPCs and active cooperations.
There are a total of three ways to use the Third Eye while navigating a Palace. First, you can easily find treasure due to the yellow glow radiating from the object. Selling your newfound loot at the military weapons shop in Shibuya will easily net you thousands of yen. Next you can use the Third Eye ability to find hidden gaps and ledges. This is especially handy when you have to crawl inside a tight vent in order to access a locked room. Last but not least, the Third Eye will reveal menacing shadows that should be avoided at all costs. If you spot a shadow emitting a red-colored aura, hurry and take cover behind an object. On the other hand, shadow’s with a yellow or blue aura indicate that they’re not strong enough to defeat your party.
Bonus. Persona 5 Dating Tips
Before engaging on a date, you must advance each social link by continuously hanging out with the girl you’re interested in. You can purchase various gifts at the Underground Mall which can later be provided to your love interest when hanging out. For instance, giving Tae Takemi a cactus will make her feel thankful and help speed up your social link. It is best to purchase a ton of random gifts and chat with all of your female confidants in order to see what they’re most interested in.
It’s possible to romance every single female social link except for Sae and the Velvet Room twins. There are endgame repercussions to dating each girl at the same time, so beware of going that route unless you want to be known as a cheater.
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