Players looking to bring their Persona 5 save data over to the updated version will be in for a slight disappointment. Persona 5 Royal will not let players continue their progress from the original game.
Director Daiki Itoh and producer Kazuhisa Wada revealed a lot of information about the game during a recent interview with Famitsu. This includes the fact that Persona 5 veterans will have to start over from scratch when booting up Royal. Instead of being able to continue their progress, players with Persona 5 save data will instead receive an as-of-yet unrevealed bonus.
However, playing through the game should at least take much less time now. Persona 5 Royal apparently makes earning experience points much easier. This may be a necessity for some, especially considering that the game adds a whole new semester for the players to experience. Itoh and Wada hint that this third semester will be larger than that of Persona 4 Golden. They specifically state that it’ll surpass the expectations of those who’ve played the latter.
Regarding new character Kasumi, the duo mention that she’ll shine a new light onto the existing cast from Persona 5. Just like the rest of the Phantom Thieves, she’ll also be an optional confidant.
As for other confidants, Itoh and Wada revealed that one of them will be named Maruki. They describe Maruki as an extremely nice adult character, but with that said, they also hint that there are more new characters and confidants to be revealed. One such character that they tease is a handsome male character who sleeps in the main character’s bed. Though unstated, this may be Morgana’s human form that was hinted at in the announcement trailer.
Finally, another feature of Royal mentioned in the interview was the presence of 20 new music tracks.
All in all, Itoh and Wada seem to be doing their best to make this a definitive Persona 5 experience. The title actually reflects this, as they chose the name “Royal” because the word reflects the idea that Persona 5 Royal is a beautiful and special game.
