History SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration / Persona5

* Madarame is a serial plagiarist who raises up artistic prodigies only to steal their work and claim it as his own, ruining their lives if they try to bust him or strike out on their own. When you fight his Shadow as the boss Azazel, he has "Madare" spells which are variations on the normal elemental attacks his own "artistic flair" to them... and like the talentless hack he actually is, the damage on them is utterly pitiful. This is especially notable with his "Madare-Megido" spell -- Megido family spells are usually the InfinityPlusOneElement in any given game, so any veteran ''Megami Tensei'' player would be extremely nervous to see the second boss of the game use even the first ranked Megido spell, only for it to do ''even less'' damage than his already pitiful rip-off elemental spells. His plagiarism is made even more apparent in ''Royal''. His second phase now involves summoning copies of himself -- literally called '''[[CaptainErsatz Ersatz]]''' Anger/Joy/Sorrow/Mirth -- who cast the same renamed elemental attacks, but somehow do even less damage. The only real threat from them is that they'll reflect attacks of the same type, which makes crowd control difficult. He'll create new ones whenever these are destroyed, but if the fight drags on for long enough, [[CloneDegeneration the copies spawn at low HP and with negative status ailments, making them easy to kill in one hit]]. A man who built a career on stealing and profiting off the work of others can't even replicate his own correctly.

* As [[PlayerCharacter Joker]]'s Proficiency stat is ranked up in gameplay, is {{Idle Animation}}s during story events changes. When studying, a low Proficiency Joker will just tap his pen on the table, while at high Proficiency, he starts spinning it around. Similarly, a Joker with high Proficiency will spin his phone during meetings at the hideout. On a similar note, Joker's animation at the hideout will change based on whether this is before or after the interrogation. If it's before, he will do the phone spin animation. If it's after, he'll rub his head on the spot where the investigator stepped on him.

* How do the non-Joker party members gain their third Personas? By fusing the other two, naturally.

** The Judgement Confidant is formed and Ranked up in the periodic interrogation scenes throughout the game, but the experience bonuses do not kick in until the plot reaches that point, even though you technically have the Confidant levels before that point in the game. That said, most Personas of the Judgment Arcana tend to be too high leveled to actually be fused before that point in the game.
** If you invite [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Akechi]] to play darts in ''Royal'', none of the Thieves will show up to hang out with him (other than Morgana, who you carry around everywhere in the first place). He'll also insist on playing 701, the most difficult darts game. This makes it so that he's the slowest party member to level up his Baton Pass rank, as it's impossible to build up trust with him quickly by giving him advice in the fourth round.
** Once Akechi joins the Phantom Thieves in ''Royal'', he'll be available to play [[MiniGame Tycoon]] against in the [[ModelMuseum Thieves Den]]. However, when choosing opponents, the random selection will make it so that it is impossible for a scenario in which Akechi plays against [[spoiler:Futaba or Haru, due to the fact that the latter two likely aren't willing to play a casual game of cards against their parents' killer]].

** Another disturbing case occurs during the third term where [[spoiler:a mentally unstable Sumire attacks Joker because he won't accept Maruki's deal, being desperate to go back to being "Kasumi". When Sumire fights you in person, she ''will'' go down after around 3 to 4 attacks, in addition to possessing no way to get around a Persona that nulls Bless or Phys; if Joker has a Persona that repels either of these, she'll kill herself with the reflected damage. Sumire's impressive set of DullEyesOfUnhappiness during that moment, comparable to those of Shiho at the start of the game, demonstrate she isn't in any condition to fight. Akechi also backs off for fear of killing her by accident; with how aggressive Akechi is during combat, Joker and Akechi fighting together would see her dead by the second turn.]]
** Throughout Kasumi's Confidant in ''Royal'', she displays [[CuteClumsyGirl obvious and extreme klutziness]], such as when she plays at the batting cage and misses six balls in a row while obviously concentrating. During the Third Semester, [[spoiler:after she regains her identity as Sumire and joins the Phantom Thieves, she can be invited to play darts... where her AI is programmed to be ''awful'' at the game[[note]]Specifically, she's programmed to try and imitate whatever dart throws the player makes, but will always be worse at it[[/note]]]].

** The most powerful attacks of ''Royal'''s FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Maruki, are Nuclear and Bless abilities. These make Sumire the party member he is the least effective against, as her third-tier Persona, Ella, resists Nuclear and outright nullifies Bless, representing how Sumire has been able to steadily outgrow and reject Maruki and his philosophy]]. By contrast, [[spoiler:Akechi is weak to Bless and therefore the party member Maruki is most effective against, representing how Akechi is most actively hostile and philosophically opposed to Maruki of any of the Phantom Thieves]].
** The PostFinalBoss of ''Royal'' features a minor case of this. [[spoiler:Because the Metaverse is breaking down, neither Joker nor Maruki can use their Personas anymore, resorting to slugging each other with their bare fists, and this looks about as cool as you'd expect a high school student fighting a counselor/researcher to look in real life. Joker's in-game portrait also reflects his lack of a Persona by no longer having a mask.]]

* A similar example occurs when Akechi joins the party for the Casino Palace. He can deal both Bless and Curse damage, but by this point, most players will have built Joker to deal both types more effectively, leaving Akechi without a clear niche in the party. This dovetails perfectly with his Confidant in ''Royal'', which depicts Akechi as increasingly frustrated at all the ways Joker outclasses him. [[spoiler:It's also an early hint that the Phantom Thieves have had Akechi OutGambitted from the moment he joins the team.]]
** ''Royal'' adds another interesting wrinkle to this. [[spoiler:When Akechi rejoins the team and openly takes on the role of Black Mask, he's no longer capable of dealing Bless damage, and is solely focused on Curse. This symbolizes how he has found a sort of freedom in giving up on his double identity, as he outright states how exhausting he found it to constantly play the role of a noble kid detective.]]

** ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
*** As [[PlayerCharacter Joker]]'s Proficiency stat is ranked up in gameplay, is {{Idle Animation}}s during story events changes. When studying, a low Proficiency Joker will just tap his pen on the table, while at high Proficiency, he starts spinning it around. Similarly, a Joker with high Proficiency will spin his phone during meetings at the hideout. On a similar note, Joker's animation at the hideout will change based on whether this is before or after the interrogation. If it's before, he will do the phone spin animation. If it's after, he'll rub his head on the spot where the investigator stepped on him.
*** Ryuji was the star of the track team of Shujin until [[SadistTeacher Kamoshida]] crippled him by breaking his leg. In the present, Ryuji runs with a noticeable limp and cannot jump high. Gameplay-wise, he retains the vitality and strength from those days (since he keeps himself in shape), but is also the slowest playable character due to the lingering pain and complications from the injury.
*** During the boss fight against Shadow Kamoshida, the player is told to choose which of the Phantom Thieves should be sent to steal Kamoshida's crown. While Ann is one of the options, using her will result in failure, as Kamoshida is so [[LustObject fixated on her]] that he'll immediately notice if she's gone. ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' adds another example from this fight. When Kamoshida begins his second Gold Medal Spike, he summons a Cognitive Shiho to help perform the attack, who Morgana advises to kill in order to stop the attack. This Cognitive Shiho is weak to literally everything, a representation of just how much Kamoshida abuses her.
*** Ann's [[AllThereInTheManual profile in the art book]] notes that she's good at talking with other people. This is reflected in one of her Confidant abilities, which grants the player another chance if they pick the wrong answer during a Hold-Up. While other party members also have this ability, hers is particularly notable, because whereas other party members' versions of the ability just grants the player another chance, hers will make it so that the Shadows response will always count as a positive result.
*** Rank 5 of Ann's Confidant involves [[BitchInSheepsClothing Mika]] screwing Ann out of a photo shoot via fake crying. After that rank is completed, Ann gains the CrocodileTears ability, which is used to assist in negotiations during Hold-Ups.
*** Mishima sees himself as the unofficial PR guy for the Phantom Thieves, being the admin of the Phan-site. Because of that, his Confidant bonuses come in the form of increased EXP in order to help party members grow and get stronger.
** How do the non-Joker party members gain their third Personas? By fusing the other two, naturally.
** Minor, but the amounts of money the Mementos mini-bosses throw when confused, are generally in-line with how rich-or-poor said targets in the real world are at that point. For instance, the couple behind Kawakami's troubles (extorting her for "apology money") are loaded beyond belief, whereas the couple in Futaba's Confidant (forcing their daughter to "sell" herself for cash) barely have a yen to their name... literally even; the male Shadow of the group throws ''a single yen'' if you use this trick on him.
*** Makoto is tasked by Principal Kobayakawa with finding the Phantom Thieves. After that point, Makoto will start [[IncrediblyObviousTail conspicuously following]] Joker whenever the player is roaming the school or Shibuya. ''Royal'' adds to this by having having her be explicitly seen following Joker and Ryuji when they go to Kichijoji.
*** Madarame is a serial plagiarist who raises up artistic prodigies only to steal their work and claim it as his own, ruining their lives if they try to bust him or strike out on their own. When you fight his Shadow as the boss Azazel, he has "Madare" spells which are variations on the normal elemental attacks his own "artistic flair" to them... and like the talentless hack he actually is, the damage on them is utterly pitiful. This is especially notable with his "Madare-Megido" spell -- Megido family spells are usually the InfinityPlusOneElement in any given game, so any veteran ''Megami Tensei'' player would be extremely nervous to see the second boss of the game use even the first ranked Megido spell, only for it to do ''even less'' damage than his already pitiful rip-off elemental spells. His plagiarism is made even more apparent in ''Royal''. His second phase now involves summoning copies of himself -- literally called '''[[CaptainErsatz Ersatz]]''' Anger/Joy/Sorrow/Mirth -- who cast the same renamed elemental attacks, but somehow do even less damage. The only real threat from them is that they'll reflect attacks of the same type, which makes crowd control difficult. He'll create new ones whenever these are destroyed, but if the fight drags on for long enough, [[CloneDegeneration the copies spawn at low HP and with negative status ailments, making them easy to kill in one hit]]. A man who built a career on stealing and profiting off the work of others can't even replicate his own correctly.
*** [[PhonyPsychic Fukurai]], the second target of Chihaya's Confidant, specializes in inflicting his targets with the Brainwashed status effect and then attacking with [[PsychicPowers Psy]] spells, representing how Fukurai convinces people that his Holy Stones are genuinely supernatural and then [[ConMan exploits them for profit]]. To drive the point home, the Persona his Shadow transforms into for his fight is Baphomet, who is weak to [[LightEmUp Bless]] spells.
*** Hifumi's Confidant bonuses tie into how the story of her Confidant progresses. She initially agrees to play Shogi with Joker so that she can study obscure moves. For that reason, ranking up her Confidant causes Joker's Knowledge stat to increase. Similarly, Rank 9 of her Confidant has her forfeit a match for the first time, upon which the player gains the ability to instantly escape battles.
*** Joker's guardian, Sojiro Sakura, is pretty cold and hostile towards him at first, mostly limiting interaction with telling the protagonist to not cause any trouble for him or his business. This is reflected by his Confidant link being extremely slow to rank up compared to the others and outright locks at a certain point in the story. After you [[spoiler:save his daughter Futaba from committing suicide and help her with her social anxiety]], Sojiro's Confidant link starts leveling up much faster and normally, reflecting his DefrostingIceKing shift towards the Protagonist.
** One of the plot points about halfway into the story is that Morgana begins to feel that the group doesn't want or need him around anymore. This is reflected in two main ways; first, by this point in the game Morgana's utility in battle has dropped significantly. He is a SquishyWizard, but early access to high-level healing spells makes him an almost mandatory party member at the beginning of the game. However, as the game wears on, Ann comes in to her own as [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter a sturdier and more powerful spellcaster]], [[LightningBruiser Makoto]] joins the party, and Joker gathers more and more Personas. All three have access to similar or better healing spells, and Joker can even access Morgana's otherwise unique Garu spells. Secondly, Makoto and Futaba take over the roles of analyzing enemies and navigating the Palace/Mementos respectively after they join the party, both of which were Morgana's job previously (Futaba even assumes the role of battle commentary from him). This also integrates into the story when he re-ignites his passion and rejoins the Phantom Thieves, he learns his third level Garu skills faster than any other character, and his magic ability skyrockets, letting him do much more damage much sooner than almost any other character (Haru/Noir does as much damage, but lacks Morgana's accuracy).
*** During the period of time in which Haru is absent due to [[spoiler:grieving her father's death]], it is impossible to perform Mementos Requests, since in the story, the whole party must make a unanimous decision to go after a target.
*** Akechi's abilities are reflected by the story in several ways. When he joins the Phantom Thieves, he has access to both [[CastingAShadow Curse]] and Bless spells, but by this point in the game, Joker will have access to to far more powerful ways to use these elements, causing him to end up as a party member who lacks any clear niche in gameplay. [[spoiler:This serves as subtle {{foreshadowing}} that the Phantom Thieves had already OutGambitted Akechi and are steps ahead of him in their plan]]. On a similar note, party members have [[ElementalRockPaperScissors resistance to whatever element their Persona specializes in]]. That is, with the exception of Akechi, whose Persona, Robin Hood, uses both of the previously mentioned abilities, but not only is he not resistant to either of these abilities, he's ''weak'' to Curse. [[spoiler:This serves as foreshadowing that Robin Hood is not Akechi's primary Persona]]. ''Royal'' adds a few additional layers to this. In his Confidant, Akechi's lack of niche due to Joker's greater strengths gets reflected by the reveal of his frustration over [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter being constantly outdone by Joker]]. And [[spoiler:during the Third Semester, he ends up ditching Bless abilities entirely and becomes solely focused on Curse abilities, which symbolizes how he is now free of living his double identity]].

*** Once Akechi joins the Phantom Thieves in ''Royal'', he'll be available to play [[MiniGame Tycoon]] against in the [[ModelMuseum Thieves Den]]. However, when choosing opponents, the random selection will make it so that it is impossible for a scenario in which Akechi plays against [[spoiler:Futaba or Haru, due to the fact that the latter two likely aren't willing to play a casual game of cards against their parents' killer]].
*** In ''Royal'', the final rank of Maruki's Confidant will have him treat Joker to lunch, only for the steam from their food to fog up their glasses. This gets shown in their {{Character Portrait}}s.
*** Confidants generally give you a boost to Personas of the same Arcana when you fuse them and a whole bunch of other character-specific bonuses. Prosecutor Sae Niijima, the woman interrogating Joker in the FramingDevice, is added to your Confidant list in early July. However, since Joker doesn't properly meet her until November, the player doesn't receive any of the Confidant's benefits until the story catches up to the interrogation.
*** When the player starts a new Confidant, the game will fast-forward to the interrogation, where Sae will question Joker about an expertise related to the Confidant. Should the player instigate the Confidant after the story has caught up to the interrogation, this scene won't play out. Similarly, this scene won't play out whatsoever when the player starts and Fool or Strength Confidants, as Sae has no knowledge of the Velvet Room and therefore has no reason to question Joker about it. Moreover, when the game transitions back to the interrogation, this will be shown by the calendar fast-forwarding a month and a half. However should the player instigate this transition when the story is less than a month and a half away from the events of the interrogation (which takes place on 11/19), the date will stop when it reaches that point.
*** During [[spoiler:Akechi's boss fight, he has a tendency to target Joker more than any other party member. Fitting, considering how much of a GreenEyedMonster Akechi is towards him]].
*** In vanilla ''Persona 5'', Akechi [[spoiler:does not receive the [[TakingTheBullet Protect]] skill upon reaching Rank 9 in his Confidant like other party members. While gameplay-wise, this is just due to him no longer being a party member at this point, from a plot perspective, this skill instead takes the form of him [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing himself to save the Phantom Thieves from an army of Shadows]]. ''Royal'' plays it a bit straighter by having him actually get the Protect skill upon reaching Rank 9, though he only gains access to it starting from the Third Semester]].
*** The ''Royal'' exclusive Mementos Target Hikaru Arihara is a man who uses his looks to manipulate women into fighting over him. For that reason, he is resistant to [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[AtomicSuperpower Nuclear]], and Psy spells, the spells used by the three female party members the player will have access to when they first receive this request.
** Throughout the entire game, Joker will fuse Personas via the Velvet Room's guillotine. Shortly after Justine and Caroline [[spoiler:remember the truth about their "master", they ask Joker to fuse them through said guillotine to restore their true form, Lavenza]].
** Okumura's ultimate attack, Big Bang Challenge, normally deals heavy damage and inflicts hunger. However, if a person is already hungry, then the attack will instead heal them and cure their hunger.
*** The Game Over screen changes once the player reaches the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, now having [[spoiler:Igor and Lavenza lament that there's no one left to stop Yaldabaoth or Maruki]].
*** Akechi [[spoiler:is the most experienced of any character in traversing the Metaverse, having been doing so for years prior to the Phantom Thieves forming. As a result, when Futaba is out of commission at the beginning of ''Royal'''s Third Semester, Akechi is the one to take up the role as navigator]].
*** In ''Royal'', [[spoiler:when Sumire chooses to fight Joker when he refuses to accept Maruki's world, her DullEyesOfUnhappiness combined with her [[SanitySlippage obviously declining sanity]] makes it pretty clear that she's in no condition to fight, with Akechi choosing not to involve himself in the fight due to recognizing that he could end up accidentally killing her. Sure enough, she can be defeated in 3 or 4 turns. On top of that, she has no way of countering Personas that null Bless and Physical abilities, and should they outright [[AttackReflector reflect]] those elements, she can end up knocking herself out with her own attacks]].
** A similar example occurs when Akechi joins the party for the Casino Palace. He can deal both Bless and Curse damage, but by this point, most players will have built Joker to deal both types more effectively, leaving Akechi without a clear niche in the party. This dovetails perfectly with his Confidant in ''Royal'', which depicts Akechi as increasingly frustrated at all the ways Joker outclasses him. [[spoiler:It's also an early hint that the Phantom Thieves have had Akechi OutGambitted from the moment he joins the team.]]
*** ''Royal'' adds another interesting wrinkle to this. [[spoiler:When Akechi rejoins the team and openly takes on the role of Black Mask, he's no longer capable of dealing Bless damage, and is solely focused on Curse. This symbolizes how he has found a sort of freedom in giving up on his double identity, as he outright states how exhausting he found it to constantly play the role of a noble kid detective.]]
*** The Security Meter icon for ''Royal'''s Third Semester Palace, prior to the discovery of the ruler's identity, is the most threatening in the game. Once the ruler is revealed to be [[spoiler:Maruki, and it's made clear that [[WellIntentionedExtremist he isn't anywhere near as vile as the game's previous Palace rulers]], the portrait changes into the least threatening in the game]].

*** Throughout Kasumi's Confidant in ''Royal'', she displays [[CuteClumsyGirl obvious and extreme klutziness]], such as when she plays at the batting cage and misses six balls in a row while obviously concentrating. During the Third Semester, [[spoiler:after she regains her identity as Sumire and joins the Phantom Thieves, she can be invited to play darts... where her AI is programmed to be ''awful'' at the game[[note]]Specifically, she's programmed to try and imitate whatever dart throws the player makes, but will always be worse at it[[/note]]]].
*** Throughout the series, new Personas are obtained by fusing two other Personas into a single one. In ''Royal'''s Third Semester, the Phantom Thieves' third-tier Personas are obtained through fusing their first and second-tier Personas.
*** During ''Royal'''s Third Semester, [[spoiler:a recording shows how Maruki discovered his powers when he accidentally altered his catatonic girlfriend Rumi's cognition to change her memories in order to heal her, which included erasing the one's of him. At the end of the recording, Maruki tells Rumi that [[MetaphoricallyTrue his girlfriend had "passed away"]]. To symbolize this, Rumi's character portrait disappears after Maruki says that]]. A similar situation happens in [[spoiler:the [[MultipleEndings "Stay" ending]]. In Maruki's reality, none of the characters recognize him, having essentially turned himself into a background character in everyone else's story. The result is that he loses his character portrait and his name disappears, with him simply being referred to as "Man Wearing Hat"]].
*** The most powerful attacks of ''Royal'''s FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Maruki, are Nuclear and Bless abilities. These make Sumire the party member he is the least effective against, as her third-tier Persona, Ella, resists Nuclear and outright nullifies Bless, representing how Sumire has been able to steadily outgrow and reject Maruki and his philosophy]]. By contrast, [[spoiler:Akechi is weak to Bless and therefore the party member Maruki is most effective against, representing how Akechi is most actively hostile and philosophically opposed to Maruki of any of the Phantom Thieves]].

*** The amount of money Mementos Targets throw away when inflicted with the Confused status effect is dependent on how rich or poor the target is in reality. For example, the targets in Kawakami's Confidant (who are extorting her for money) will throw out extremely large amounts of money, while by contrast, the targets in Futaba's Confidant (who force their daughter to "sell" herself for money) will throw out literally only a single yen.

*** A major plot point around the game's midway point centers around Morgana feeling that the Phantom Thieves don't need or want him anymore. This is reflected in gameplay, as Morgana is a SquishyWizard whose access to strong healing abilities make him almost mandatory to the early game, while also serving as the team's battle analyst and navigator. However, by this point in the game, Ann will have developed into a sturdier and stronger spellcaster with access to similarly powerful healing magic, and [[JackOfAllStats Makoto]] joins the Thieves with access to similarly strong offensive and support magic, taking over Morgana's role in combat, while Makoto and Futaba take over his role as battle analyst and navigator, respectively. Similarly, once Morgana overcomes these issues and rejoins the Thieves, this gets reflected by the fact that, at this point in the game, Morgana will begin to gain access to third-tier level abilities (much sooner than any of the other characters can), and his magic stat will skyrocket, letting him do more magic damage than any other party member besides Haru (who lacks Morgana's accuracy).

*** In the story, Akechi is TheFriendNobodyLikes in regards to the Phantom Thieves as a whole. Because of this, should the player have Joker invite him to darts in ''Royal'', no other Phantom Thief will show up.

*** Persona fusion is performed in gameplay through use of a guillotine in the Velvet Room. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:after Caroline and Justine discover their true nature, they have Joker use the guillotine to fuse them back into Lavenza]].

*** The final stage of ''Royal'''s final boss has a case of this. [[spoiler:Joker and Maruki will have one last DuelBoss as the [[MentalWorld Metaverse]] is breaking down, leaving them unable to use their Personas anymore. As a result, the standard attack button is the only command the player is able to use during the fight. Similarly, Joker's battle portrait will be changed to no longer have his mask]].

** ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'':
*** In the climax of ''Persona 5 Royal'', [[spoiler:the star that Jose gave the Phantom Thieves that allowed them to perform [[CombinationAttack Showtimes]] uses up all its power to transform Morgana into a helicopter so the Phantom Thieves can escape the Metaverse]]. As a result, Showtimes in this game are no longer performed by two characters, but by a character and their Persona, and are much weaker than the Showtimes in ''Royal''.
*** Yusuke's Persona specializes in [[AnIcePerson Ice spells]], which is likely the reason why, upon arriving in the Sapporo Jail, he's the only Phantom Thief unaffected by the Jail's blizzard.
*** The Jail Monarches of this game each serve as a ShadowArchetype to a character from ''Persona 5''. Because of that, each of them is weak to a specific element associated with that character. Alice serves as a counterpart to Ann, and so is weak to Fire. Ango is a counterpart to Yusuke, and so is weak to Ice. Mariko is a counterpart to Okumura, and so is weak to both Psi, the element Okumura's daughter Haru specializes in, and Curse, both of which are also the weakness combination of Okumura's MDL-GM robots. [[spoiler:Akira is a counterpart to Ryuji and Makoto, and so is weak to [[ShockAndAwe Electricity]] and Nuclear, their respective elements. EMMA is a counterpart to Maruki and Sophia, and so is weak to Bless and Curse, the latter of whom specializing in the former element and the former having been opposed the most by Joker, Akechi, and Sumire, who each specializes in one of the two elements]].
*** When [[spoiler:Ichinose brainwashes Sophia to fight the Phantom Thieves]], everyone except Zenkichi (who argues they have to ShootTheDog to prevent EMMA's AssimilationPlot) is extremely reluctant to fight. In the subsequent fight, Zenkichi is the only AI character who will actually attack; the others will just dodge.

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Persona1'':
*** Chewing Souls heal a significant amount of SP out of combat, but a minuscule amount in combat. This is because Chewing Souls are gum, which the characters have the luxury of savoring out of combat, but aren't able to when they're busy fighting.
*** Mark gets captured by demons at one point because his Persona ran out of SP, which is explained to drain the user's energy.
*** Characters who lack a Persona only have 1 Magical Defense. As a result, when Takeda attacks Maki, Elly, and Brown with magic, the latter two, who have Persona, are barely scratched, while Brown, who doesn't, is severely injured.
*** Persona awakening battles always have the party members level up after the battle, and this game uses a LevelUpFillUp mechanic. As a result, when Brown awakens his Persona after getting injured by Takeda, he's completely healed.
*** It's shown in the game that characters without Persona are unable to be affected by healing magic. Because of this, when the party tries to heal Yosuke, it ends up having no effect.
** ''VideoGame/Persona2''
*** During the boss fight against Sugimoto in ''Innocent Sin'', Eikichi is unable to attack him at all outside of [[CombinationAttack Fusion Spells]] due to the curse placed on him.
*** Right before the boss fight against [[spoiler:Shadow Maya]] in ''Innocent Sin'', all but one of the party members get hit with an attack several times. The result is that at the beginning of the fight, all but one of the party members have low HP.
*** In ''Innocent Sin'', Yukino [[spoiler:gives up her ability to use her Persona in order to reawaken Jun's ability to use his. As a result, Jun has access to Durga, Yukino's Ultimate Persona]].
*** ''Eternal Punishment'' features flashbacks to ''Innocent Sin'' where Tatsuya talks while Maya is silent. That's because in this game, Maya is the SilentProtagonist, while Tatsuya is capable of speech.
*** Kei's Arcanum choices in ''Eternal Punishment'' are reflective of his CharacterDevelopment since the first game. In the first game, he was incapable of using Emperor Personas, while in this game, Emperor Personas are one of his most compatible Persona types.
*** In ''Eternal Punishment'', after Ulala [[spoiler:gets possessed by JOKER, she punches Maya. As a result, the fight against her has Maya start with some HP taken off]].
*** ''Innocent Sin'' ends with [[spoiler:the characters' pasts being rewritten to make the events of the game never happen]]. As a result, the characters in ''Eternal Punishment'' [[BagOfSpilling are stripped of the power they attained over the course of the previous game]], [[spoiler:with the exception of Tatsuya, who still remembers the events of the game and so retains his power, causing him to join the party at level 50 and have access to his Ultimate Persona]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
*** While [[HealingHands Dia]] spells are effective no matter what, the game's early healing abilities are nowhere near as effective as the late-game healing spells. This is reflected in the story, where Mitsuru never asks Yukari to heal Akihiko's injuries, since Yukari still only has access to the starting healing spells, which aren't effective enough to properly treat Akihiko.
*** The protagonist will end up in Great condition if the player chooses to sleep early at night. When Akihiko first joins the party, he's in Great condition, as he just spent to last few days resting in the hospital.
*** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Portable]]'''s Female Protagonist route will alter certain dialogues based on who [[PlayerCharacter Kotone]] is in a relationship with ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation unlike the Male Protagonist route and other games, where references to relationships are exclusive to special events]]). This includes altered lines in dorm conversations, Social Links, and even [[spoiler:the final stage of the game's FinalBoss]].
*** One of the first things the player learns about Akihiko is that he suffers from a severe case of being ObliviousToLove. For that reason, ''Portable'''s Female Protagonist route has him as the hardest of game's romance options to succeed at, to the point that a [[GuideDangIt guide]] is needed.
*** Over the first few months of the game, Junpei gets increasingly jealous of the protagonist. In ''Portable'''s Female Protagonist route, this is reflected by locking the player out of progressing his [[RelationshipValues Social Link]] from the July Full Moon (where his jealously reaches its peak) to the end of the summer exams (where he apologizes for his attitude).
*** Because Aigis is a RobotGirl, she's incapable of being effected by the Poison StatusEffect. ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'''s [[PlayableEpilogue The Answer]] and the ''Q'' duology due away with this, with the latter having her note that her parts are corroding when she's poisoned.
*** The first game showed that healing spells are less effective on people who don't have a Persona. In this game, [[spoiler:it's clear this also applies to people who repress their Persona, as shown in the case of Shinjiro]].
*** Chidori has a HealingFactor, allowing her to heal from her ([[DeathSeeker mostly self-inflicted]]) injuries faster than other characters would be able to. This translates into gameplay through her having the Spring of Life passive ability, which heals 8% of her health per turn.
*** How you defeat the final boss: [[spoiler:The protagonist [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices themself]] to seal it away, represented in the battle system by the Great Seal ability. Look at the HP cost for Great Seal; sure enough, it costs all of your [[CastFromHitPoints HP]]]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'':
*** [[ButtMonkey Yosuke]] is incredibly unlucky, with him getting kicked in [[GroinAttack the nads]] within minutes of the game starting for breaking his friend's CD. He ends up falling off of, and crashing whilst on, his bike ''before'' he's even named, and to top it all off, [[spoiler:his crush gets killed very early on]]. If you check his stat profile, you'll notice that he has the lowest Luck stat of any of your party members.
*** Yosuke's character arc is centered around his lack of direction in life outside of the Investigation Team. The result is that in combat, [[JackOfAllTrades he's capable of covering any role]], but [[MasterOfNone lacks specialization in any role compared to other party members]].
** In the story mode for ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', Labrys spends her fights in permanent Persona Break, as she doesn't have access to a Persona [[spoiler:until near the end of the game]].