Daiki Itoh, who is the director on Persona 5 The Royal, spoke to Japanese magazine Famitsu on the work happening on the updated version of 2017’s RPG of the Year. He shared a wealth of information with producer Kazuhisa Wada and thanks to Gematsu, we know a fair bit.
First off, the Play Assist feature looks at your character’s parameters and confidants, then suggests a destination on the map – effectively removing the guesswork of which person is worth visiting on any given day.
Itoh also let out the reasoning behind The Royal subtitle: they wanted to show their enthusiasm in making the title. So, they wanted to revisit the game and create a new, standalone experience. If you own a save for OG Persona 5, the save won’t be compatible but those who do have a save will get a bonus.
The Royal features a new third semester, so expect a whole new section with a ton of content, going far beyond the scope of what Persona 4 Golden offered.
Also, to better streamline the tempo of the whole game, Itoh iterated that it is easier now to earn experience points – this is something I felt made the game a slog later on – so it’s nice this is being addressed.
New character Kasumi is also being interwoven into the story, and her role is to expose existing characters. I’m not sure the angle the developers are going with but I’m curious. Kasumi will also be a confidant to level up.
A new confidant named Maruki is coming and there will be others as well, however, those were not talked about.
Lastly, expect around 20 new music tracks but we don’t know if they are new songs or remixes of existing. Either way, I’m in for new music!
