New details about Persona 5’s Fusion system have been leaked in an upcoming issue of Japanese game publication Famitsu. The magazine also revealed new information about the guillotine and other implements of torture in the game’s prison-themed Velvet Room.
Famitsu (via Persona Central) reports the Fusion system will eliminate random skill inheritance. This is a big one: just like in Persona 4 Golden (the enhanced version of P4 for PS Vita), players can manually select the skills Personas inherit in fusion. No more wasting time repeatedly attempting the same fusion to get the best possible abilities!
Tumblr user Dominationkid’s handy English scanlations of the Famitsu article (click here for part 1 and part 2) reveal Persona 5 will allow players to fuse two or more Persona at a time, and the resulting Persona will gain additional experience based on the Co-op level of the corresponding arcana, just like the way Social Links functioned in previous Persona games.
While there’s a lot about P5 Persona Fusion fans of the series will recognize, the Velvet Room’s prison theme allows players to do a lot more with their Persona than in previous games by customizing their collection of various torture devices.
The Guillotine
Standard Persona fusion is performed through the use of guillotines, which have been seen in previous footage of the Velvet Room. There’s the “Two-body Guillotine” for standard fusions of two Personas, and “Group Guillotine” for merging more than two. Players will also be able to summon previously fused personas (presumably for a fee) with the “Search Guillotine” command.
Other Dark Room Tortures For Your Persona Collection
Hanging: Hanging one of your Persona will increase the experience of another Persona remaining in your collection.
Electric Chair: Sacrificing personas in the electric chair will transform them into an item. Presumably, the more rare or difficult to obtain a Persona is, the more valuable an item it will yield.
Solitary Confinement: Send a Persona to solitary confinement, and it will learn new skills and/or overcome elemental weaknesses through intensive training. This requires a number of in-game days to complete. The duration is partially determined by the Co-op level / Social Link rank of the corresponding arcana.
Does all that seem a little dark? Persona 5’s director, Katsura Hashino, claims “the reason these Persona features sound like executions is due to the symbolization of ‘erasing your own mask’ and giving birth to a new self.”
This new information about the Velvet Room raises questions about the relationships between the protagonist and his Personas -- are these creatures unwilling captives? Do they support our hero and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, or would they rebel if given a chance?
We’ll find out more when Persona 5 debuts in Japan on Sept. 15, and in the U.S. and Europe on Feb. 14, 2017.
