History Persona5 / TropesSToZ

** In NewGamePlus, you can optionally fight Caroline and Justine, who serve as the toughest boss fight in the game. ''Royal'' adds [[spoiler: Lavenza]] as an even tougher challenge.

** In ''Royal'', [[spoiler: collecting all of Jose's stamps unlocks a boss fight against him.]]

** Madarame's Treasure takes the form of the real "Sayuri" painted by Yusuke's mother. When the group examines the painting after the Palace, Joker can ask if "Sayuri" was her name, to which Yusuke will respond that it wasn't; Madarame changed the painting's name to prevent anyone from tracing its true origin. In ''Royal'', [[spoiler: in Maruki's dream world, Yusuke displays the painting in a gallery under its original name, but the player never actually gets to learn what it is.]]

* VariableMix: In ''Royal'', Mementos gets all new music from the third area onward that increases in intensity the deeper you go. [[spoiler: The Path of Da'at unlocked in the third semester combines both the old and new music themes.]]

--->'''Akechi [[spoiler: (Black Mask)]]:''' Just trash after all...

** One notable ''Royal'' example of this could happen during the Kamoshida boss fight, during one segment [[spoiler: Cognitive Shiho]] appears and to make matters worse Morgana encourages you to fight her and she is weak to physical attacks. With that said you can turn this segment into the [[VideoGameCaringPotential opposite direction]] by strictly attacking Kamoshida and deal at least 300 damage to make her retreat.

** After [[spoiler: the Holy Grail fuses reality with Mementos and causes the Phantom Thieves to disappear]], Joker is brought to the Velvet Room where Igor [[spoiler: orders Caroline and Justine to execute him for failing to complete his mission. While there were signs that something was up with Igor beforehand, this move is definitely out-of-character, and it sets in motion a chain of events that reveals that the Igor you've been dealing with for the entire game is in fact the Holy Grail in disguise, having imprisoned the real Igor and split his attendant into Caroline and Justine.]]

** In ''Royal'', the events directly after [[spoiler: the final battle with Yaldabaoth act as this. Joker approaches Sae and prepares to turn himself in just as in the base game... But if certain conditions are met, then Akechi reveals himself, having somehow survived the standoff with his cognitive self in Shido's palace, and offers himself up in Joker's place. Joker, now exonerated from his false criminal record, spends Christmas at Leblanc, spends a quiet evening with his romantic interest (if he has one), and celebrates New Year's Eve with the gang, [[HopeSpot and the game seems set to end on a happy note]]... Then Joker has a strange dream where he follows a butterfly through the darkened halls of Shujin while in the prisoner outfit he wore in the Velvet Room. After he wakes up, goes downstairs, and speaks with a blue-eyed stranger who apparently knows him, Futaba walks in wearing a beautiful yukata she got to visit a shrine... And the first thing out of her mouth is your first hint that ''something is '''very wrong'''''.]]
--->'''Futaba:''' [[spoiler: [[WhamLine I picked it out with my mom]].]]

** Memes aside, [[INeverSaidItWasPoison these lines]] indirectly reveal who the true culprit is [[spoiler: you hear Morgana you already entered the Metaverse]]:

--->'''[[spoiler: Akechi:]]''' Oh, am I mistaken? I thought I heard something about [[spoiler: delicious pancakes]]...

** On October 3rd in ''Royal'', Joker goes to the stadium in Odaiba to find Kasumi and give her back her good luck charm which she dropped. After Kasumi says [[spoiler: Maruki]]'s name, along with some other inconspicuous words, we get the following from her phone, along with a familiar app appearing on it...

--->'''Maruki:''' Please, allow me to express my gratitude to you once more as a most helpful student of Shujin... [[spoiler: [[SecretSecretKeeper and as a phantom thief as well]].]]

** In TheStinger of the ''Royal'' edition (if certain conditions are met), [[spoiler: as Joker sits in the train, a figure wearing Akechi's clothes walks by, hinting that he's NotQuiteDead.]]

** Only a few minutes into the game, a police investigator is reading the crimes Joker has been charged with [[spoiler:(Joker [[TheReveal isn't really guilty]], [[UnwittingPawn the police are following a]] CorruptPolitician [[MiscarrigeOfJustice that originally ruined Joker's life]])]], the last one possibly leaving a doubt as to how heroic our protagonist really is:

** Only a few minutes into the game, a police investigator is reading the crimes Joker has been charged with, the last one possibly leaving a doubt as to how heroic our protagonist really is:

** If the player got rank 9 in Maruki's Confidant in ''Royal'', at his last day at Shujin, he invites Joker to lunch and reveals that his paper on cognitive psience is finished thanks to Joker's help, then drops the following bombshell.

** In the path to the good ending, a cutscene shows the reaction of the Phantom Thieves to [[spoiler:Joker's arrest and apparent "suicide"]]. They are all appropriately concerned and horrified by the turn of events, and then...

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: A number of songs, which include battle themes and background music, feature English lyrics that actually aren't complete gibberish and suit the part of the game it goes with. It helps that the lyrics were written by a native speaker.

* SuckySchool: Shujin Academy ''big time''. The students are toxic and ruin the reputation of others who stand out in a negative way with their [[MaliciousSlander gossip]], for no reason other than [[GossipyHens to gossip about something]], [[EvilTeacher Kamoshida]] is allowed to physically abuse the male students and sexually harass (and assault) the female students, as the principal is willing to sweep all of his crimes under the rug simply because Kamoshida is a former olympian athlete and his presence alone [[SlaveToPR gives the school a lot of good publicity]]. [[spoiler:As if that wasn't enough, The principal is also in ties with TheConspiracy and it's heavily implied he got his position thanks to it, and is also the reason why he let all of Kamoshida's crimes slide]]. Unlike many examples, Shujin's academic record is apparently rather good, but none of the party members particularly enjoy their time at the school, with Ann even calling it a "sorry excuse of a school".

** Mementos is a randomly-generated, multi-floor dungeon you can go to any time to level up and which is stated at the start of the game to be the focus of a game-long game quest to uncover its mysteries. It's the location of {{Sidequest}}s, is divided into "paths" named after concepts in Hebrew Mysticism, has calendar-based gates that only clear away by proceeding with the plot, and the bottom serves as the not-so-optional [[spoiler:penultimate dungeon]], making it a mirror image of [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Tartarus]] in ''VideoGame/Persona3''. And like Tartarus, if you spend too long in one floor, [[BonusBoss the Reaper]] comes after you.

** Several skills in this game offer a bonus when the party is being ambushed. For instance, Cornered Fang grows stronger, and the Adverse Resolve or Last Stand passives increase critical or evade rate, allowing you a better chance at breaking out of an ambush. However, the stealth mechanics make it very easy to not get ambushed – not to mention that getting ambushed also means your party is likely to get killed immediately – and so reduces their usability. The worst of all goes to Thermopylae, a skill that buffs all stats of the whole party in one turn for less than half of the cost it takes to do it in 3 the normal way, but can only be used while being ambushed, meaning it's useless in boss fights (except exactly [[BonusBoss one]]). On top of that, enemy Shadows may have those skills and can use them to their fullest to ruin your day.

'''[[BonusBoss Justine & Caroline]]:''' DON'T BE SO COCKY\\

[[spoiler:'''[[BonusBoss Lavenza]]:''' DON'T BE SO NAIVE[[note]]''Royal'' only[[/note]]]]

** One of the best strategies to fight [[BonusBoss The Reaper]] (that doesn't involve the flu season in vanilla ''Persona 5'') is to let him ambush you on purpose. It sounds like a TooDumbToLive thing to do because it gives The Reaper a free turn at the start of the fight, but if the party is capable of tanking his opening move, this makes the rest of the battle a lot easier because of two reasons: First, Ambushes work under their own turn rules, meaning that The Reaper will be able to move only once per turn ''instead'' of going twice in a row after the party's first turn. And second, it allows the protagonist to use the skill Thermopylae, something that it isn't possible for any other BossFight in the game, to buff all three stats for the whole party in just one turn.

* WeaksauceWeakness: In vanilla, [[BonusBoss The Reaper]] is vulnerable to being inflicted with Despair during Flu Season. Since Despair prevents the victim from acting, drains SP every turn, and kills the target at the start of its third turn if it isn't healed, that results in a free victory.

* UpdatedRerelease: ''Royal'' follows ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden's'' footsteps. Let's run down the list. New characters? (Marie in ''Golden'' and Kasumi, Maruki, and Jose in ''Royal''). Check. New story content taking place during the original's TimeSkip? Check. Redemption arc for the traitor? Check. An expanded ending and epilogue? Check. More endings, both good and bad? [[OverlyLongGag What do you think?]]

'''Futaba:''' GIT GUD[[note]]''Royal'' only; appears if she changed the cognition to a Hold-Up before you were controlling a character in-battle[[/note]]\\

** Mementos is the representation of the collective unconcious. The Thieves are stopped at multiple times in their descent into the depths of Mementos by massive doors, and only when they begin to make a name for themselves in the real world, becoming more enshrined in the collective unconcious, do these doors open themselves.

** Cognition is also weaponized ''in reverse'' by the GreaterScopeVillain. [[spoiler:At the end of the game, Yaldabaoth fuses Mementos with the real world, thus making the Metaverse the true reality. At this point, however, the public had become convinced that the Phantom Thieves weren't actually real, and so since they've disappeared from the public unconcious, the Phantom Thieves suffer a CessationOfExistence in the Metaverse, therefore the real world. They get better though.]]

* WorthlessTreasureTwist: The treasure from Okumura's Palace turns into a model spaceship he wanted as a boy. Subverted as it turns out to have become a valuable collector's item since then.

* WontTakeYesForAnAnswer: If you date Haru on Christmas, then she and Joker will visit a stand looking for Christmas cakes and Haru will comment that it could be a longshot. She then asks the employee if they have any she replies cheerfully that they do, at which point Haru starts to respond sadly that she expected as much, before realizing just what the woman said.

'''Futaba:''' GIT GUD[[note]]''Royal'' only[[/note]]\\

** In Madarame, [[spoiler:Futaba]], and [[spoiler:Nijima]]'s Palaces, the party encounters a door or room that cannot be passed by traditional means, as the Palace ruler's perception of that door/room is that it cannot or must not be passed by anybody. The Thieves are thus forced to find a way to pass that barrier in the real world, in such a way that the Palace ruler sees them doing so, so that they are forced to accept in their subconcious that it's not so impassable after all.
** Kaneshiro considers himself far above everyone in Shibuya, and unconcerned by anybody with whom he doesn't have personal business, and so his Palace is seen flying in the air, well out of reach of the Thieves. Only after Makoto incurs a 3 million yen debt with Kaneshiro in the real world, thus giving her "personal business" with the man, does the Palace lower itself to allow the Thieves inside.

** The Thieves' gamble to out the traitor relies heavily on manipulating Cognition to their advantage. [[spoiler:The plan for Joker to get caught relies on Sae Nijima interrogating Joker personally, during which Joker must convince her to show his phone to Akechi. When she does so, she will inadvertantly bring Akechi into Sae's Palace. Because the Palace is a representation of Sae's Cognition, and she was just in the interrogation room with Joker, there is a cognitive version of Joker still inside the room for Akechi to murder, while in the real world, Sae is convinced to save the real Joker.]] An optional conversation with Futaba afterwards have them mention a small detail they didn't consider until the very last minute: [[spoiler:Sae's Cognition also had Akechi arriving at the police station to murder Joker, and so Sae's palace would also have a cognitive Akechi arriving at the same time, which would tip the real Akechi that there was a plot against him. The other Thieves make a second venture into the Palace to lie in wait for the cognitive Akechi and dispose of him.]]
** Cognition is also weaponized ''in reverse'' by the GreaterScopeVillain. [[spoiler:At the end of the game, Yaldabaoth fuses the Mementos with the real world, thus making the Metaverse the true reality. At this point, however, the public had become convinced that the Phantom Thieves weren't actually real, and so since they've disappeared from the public unconcious, the Phantom Thieves suffer a CessationOfExistence. They get better though.]]

* YourMindMakesItReal: Cognition allows for anything to become real if influenced by a strong enough person's will or a collective. The Metaverse includes creating perfect versions of objects that also exist in the real world, like the Treasures found within Palaces. This also works in [[spoiler:reverse: if ''not enough'' people believe in something, it will ''not'' exist in the Metaverse. Near the ending Yaldabaoth combines Mementos with the real world, resulting in the Phantom Thieves (temporarily) being wiped from existence because no one believes they exist]]. Morgana's words before [[spoiler:he disappears also make it clear that ''everything'' is influenced by Cognition, and that what humans consider the "real world" is no more real than the Metaverse. Likewise Morgana thinks it's the Phantom Thieves' Cognition of him that allowed him to continue living even as a cat. His words and the concept strongly suggest Cognition is Persona's equivalent to ''Shin Megami Tensei's'' Observation.]]

** In Royal, [[spoiler:Shadow Wakaba will mention things about negative things about Futaba.]] Agreeing with her will delay the ballista from 3 turns to 9 turns. Prolonging the battle further than it logically should will have her cast a Megidolaon out of nowhere which will most likely instantly kill you.

*** The entire initial investigation of the new Palace during the third semester as well. Not only rock-solid proof that [[spoiler:"Kasumi Yoshizawa" is a ''mockery'' began to show up]], your friendly [[spoiler:counselor Takuto Maruki has taken up a mission to make everyone in the world happy and painless by means of his Palace and research lab and is now causing stagnation via this utopian plan.]] He then proceeds to show you [[spoiler:literal damning evidence that "Kasumi" is actually her twin Sumire and the real Kasumi tried to prevent Sumire's jealousy-induced fit that nearly caused her to be ran over by traffic, only for Kasumui to die instead. Then, overriden with survivor's guilt, Sumire's desire to become Kasumi or die grew exponentially more intense. Maruki, being indirectly told this by Sumire during a counselling session, decides to make her think that she really ''was'' Kasumi (because that was the greatest extent of his powers during that point), to rid her of her pain.]]

** {{Zigzagged}} for BadBoss [[AmbitionIsEvil Kunikazu Okumura]], the president of popular food chain Big Bang Burger, who's preparing marry his daughter to an abusive man for the sole purpose of becoming prime minister of Japan. He is both personally wealthy and a member of TheConspiracy, using their connections to eliminate key rivals and put himself ahead in business. However, having grown too big for his breeches, the ManBehindTheMan sets him up for a fall and has him murdered at an opportune time, completely destroying the Phantom Thieves' public image. In reality, he used to be a much more kind and caring man and actually cared for his daughter before the events of the game, he's just being drowned out by power and his daughter is actually grief-ridden by his death because of this, so he's still less evil that the others.

** Usually averted. Unlike the previous two games, it is impossible to break or reverse any Confidants, possibly because the Confidants are a business relationship between the protagonist and the NPC in question.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:The clash with Shido in his palace is slowly built up to over the entire game, involves Joker nearly being assassinated, and is the culmination of a conspiracy that is tied to every other palace aside from Kamoshida's. The Phantom Thieves believe that changing Shido's heart will bring the entire thing down. Except...it doesn't. Shido was the head of the conspiracy, but there were many other members who all were seeking to benefit from it, and as soon as Shido starts wishing to recant what he's done, they do everything they can to cover it up, particularly because if he starts naming all his crimes, they will all go down with him. Ultimately, not much really comes of Shido's change of heart, and society basically gets bored and moves on. Though it helps that this is all part of the true BigBad's plan.]]

* StarterMon: Arsène, the only level 1 Persona GuardianEntity, who you get at the very start of the game and starts with nothing but a weak physical attack and a weak darkness spell. Leveling him up will take longer than any other Persona in the game, and you'll have to sacrifice dozens of stronger Personas to give him enough high-end skills to make him useful beyond the first dungeon.

* WorldOfJerkass: The general population is depicted as rather two-faced overall. If someone of note finds success and notability, others will happily sing their praises loudly, however eventually they tend to grow bored and eventually lose interest, or even outright turn around and start treating the aforementioned someone of note horribly if they catch wind of anything negatie. It happens to be connected to the Metaverse, seemingly creating a vicious cycle, as the distortions in the general public's hearts turns the collective unconsciousness more negative, which in turn causes people to treat each other even worse, which distorts the Metaverse even more. There are those out there who maintain their dignity and humanity, but they are often trodden underfoot by those who would use and abuse them, generally requiring the Phantom Thieves to step in.