Persona 5 Royalis an upgraded version ofPersona 5,which released in 2018, adding several qualities of life changes toPersona 5.Persona 5 Royalstars a young high-school transfer student, code named Joker, who finds himself entangled between real life politics, and a supernatural conspiracy. After deciding to revolt against the worldPersona 5’s protagonist Joker and his band of friends, called the Phantom Thieves, try to bring order to their society by confronting corrupt adults and stealing their hearts.
On top of adding new characters, soundtracks, plot points, and a whole new semester worth of content,Persona 5 Royalalso tweaked upPersona 5’s combatin meaningful ways, easily making it one of the best aspects of the game.Persona 5 Royal’scombat system essentially consists of collecting Personas, leveling them up, or fusing them to form new Personas, and using them to fight other Personas and enemies. However, theRoyalversion took the gameplay to new heights by introducing a key new feature into the mix, which is the inclusion of Persona Traits. The addition of Persona Traits into the game has been such a game changer that it must be made a standard feature in all futurePersonagames.
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Persona Traits in Persona 5 Royal
Persona Traits are essentially uniquepassive skills of Personasthat do not take up a skill slot. Furthermore, they can even be passed down to another Persona after fusion. If two Personas with the same Trait are fused, the result will see the original Trait carry over and sometimes bonus Traits can also be gained. Players are first introduced to Traits after the first Palace, and from that point on every Persona in the game is seen with a Persona trait, including all the Personas among the player’s party. The party’s Persona Traits, such as Makoto’s ailment-boosting Gaia Pact, introduce valuable new levels of synergy between party members.
These traits can be found highlighted in yellow, next to a Persona’s name. Persona traits are entirely passive skills, however they can induce a wide array of effects oncombat inPersona 5 Royal, making it more complex and engaging. Early on in the games players will encounter Personas with simpler traits, such as those that reduce the SP cost of a specific elemental type attack, or others that increase the effect of magic attacks, and so on. However, as the game progresses, Personas with much more powerful traits can be found.
Every Persona found in the game has a Persona trait, but not all of them are unique. However, all Persona Traits, including both common and unique ones, can be passed down to a new Persona during fusion, adding an entirely new layer to both thePersona fusionand the combat system of the game. The ability to pass down Persona Traits opens up a vast number of customization possibilities, making some of the powerful Personas even stronger. Persona Traits only activate during a battle, meaning that Traits that have an effect of healing abilities will not be of use outside of battles.
Some of the most useful Persona traits that players can utilize include the likes of Savior Bloodline, which reduces the SP cost of healing abilities by half; Immunity, which reduces susceptibility to all ailment effects; and Relentless, which increases weakness damage by 50%. Unique Persona Traits like Alice’s Just Die, which reduces the SP cost of instant-kill abilities to zero, are even more fun to play around with.Persona 5 Royalis the first game to introduce the concept of Persona Traits, which is a mechanic that blends exceptionally well with the combat of thePersonaseries, and thus should definitely be featured inPersona 6and all other futurePersonagames.
Persona 5 Royalis available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
