You are slave. BUT TO WHAT?

Since the line "You are slave. Want emancipation?" is probably the biggest hint in the teaser towards story elements, I figured I should ask what you guys think it means. I noticed that the ball and chain only appeared on the desks when a new desk showed up, so maybe it means you're enslaved by your relationships with others, or maybe your desire for a good reputation (which would fit with the high school setting)? What do you guys think?

I also think that the question is supposed to be posed by a typical SMT god-villain, and "emancipation" is referring to something horrible.

By your own vices.

Dancing. All. Night.

To the man, man. Also, Nutella

My guess is that Shadows are enslaving humans in a weird shadow prison, and that's gonna be the dungeon of this game.

But seriously, it's probably just gonna be what everyone else is thinking.

Rice bowls. They may be a portal to the Meat Dimension.

A slave to Persona-related countdowns.

Other than wondering if the ball-and-chain motif should be taken literally (INVESTIGATION TEAM LED SOLELY BY PRISON INMATES YEAHHH), I pretty much thought the same thing. The chains of social status, life expectations, or whatnot.

It was a cool teaser, but dang if it doesn't sting a bit for that to be all there is for now, haha.

Drugzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

They are going to enter the real world, and when Yosuke discovers all the persona hentai that's online he will become horribly addicted to it.

To the rage.

The obvious implication is that we are slaves to... Chairs?

I'm a slave to Atlus and the Persona series. This game is so meta!

@dancinginfernal: nonono, dont you get it? The chairs ARE the slaves, they work long hours and never get any pay or thanks. People demean them by farting. This game is the story of the adventures the chairs go on during the summer.

@dancinginfernal: Hey where did you get that picture? I have been trying to find a nice big wallpaper of that shot

Yup. Cutting commentary on their fan-base's devotion. They're just trying to free you maaaaaaan.

Free me from my pain, Atlus! Simultaneous JP/NA release!

Last gen consoles.

Slave to endurance run jokes.

Yeah, the relationship/social status theory makes the most sense, I think. I don't think they'd have an anti-friendship message when the whole point of the series is bonding with your friends, so it's either something about social status or it's a villain making the claim.

To my love of Video Games and women.

Probably society or some sort of Japanese system. Like the school system maybe?

To steak.

The ball and chains are attached to chairs. Which to me suggests school. It would be very interesting if the game had an anti-establishment tone. Like in Persona 3 and 4, you're kind of a goody goody kid that frowns at "punk" type kids in school. Imagine if you and your crew were all punk or outcast type kids?

Then to take it further into speculation, maybe the shadows are established in that kind of government authority somehow? I'm not sure how that would work exactly... I'd have to think about it.

We'll see but just thinking about that it could be really interesting.

Breakfast Club: Persona Edition. Think about it.

@artisanbreads said:

DmH: Devil may High?

Good call actually. I think that'd be kind of the idea in ways. I was really trying to think of the mechanic for how they get involved in the real world, this game's version of the midnight channel and the dark hour. Still aren't having a good idea for that yet.

...Maybe?

This? That would be amazing: you are in detention you get to go into the dungeon.

I wonder if chains will be related to the persona-summoning abilities? I don't know if they can make a ball and chain around your ankle look cool, though.

I am a slave to the Persona series, I'll tell you that. Now my goal is to play through 1, both 2's, quick Replays of 3 and 4 and P4A before next Winter. My Vita is gonna get a lot of use next year.

@dancinginfernal said:

The obvious implication is that we are slaves to... Chairs?

We're slaves to high school, man

Unless those chairs represent some form of rehabilitation center, and all the characters are slaves to Narcotics (which would be a really interesting direction, I think), we're dealing with another group of high school kids. Which a bit of a bummer, personally. I was hoping we could have adults this time.

Well, maybe there's a possibility that they're in university...universities have chairs.

Persona has revolved around high school students since the beginning. People asking for something different are probably asking for a bit much.

@hailinel: I know, I mean, it's not like I won't play it if it's still set in high school. It's just that a different setting would be nice one of these times.

@killerfridge: Exactly, the new game involves the main character dropping out of high school and convincing his friends to do it too. The rest of the game is spent selling amrita sodas and steak skewers in order to reach the meat dimension (it's totally a dungeon now).

I doubt we'll ever see a college Persona honestly. Not unless Japan undergoes massive changes of its own and stops placing so much importance on High School.

@dancinginfernal: base on that picture and my own Asian sensibility. When I see that type of chairs in a symbolic sense, I see; duty, obligations, routines and i guess chains. So you know persona stuff.

I made this one.

We're slaves to early ambiguous and vague video game teaser trailers and other forms of marketing. I mean, they got people to watch a multi-day event, many of whom understood none of it (mostly talking about myself here)

Anyway, I'm interested to see how the theme of slavery and chains plays into the game. Like, how will they apply "I don't feel like I have any control" to the different facets of (presumably) the struggles of adolescence and early adulthood. Also, because I haven't really been following Persona news until recently, do we already know how they'll be summoning their Personas? Maybe it involves the breaking of chains or some shit?

Very cool, thanks

To the endurance run.

@leonshade said:

I'd argue that the whole point is manipulating your "friends." That's all anyone ever talks about. How they can game their party members to strengthen the social links and create more powerful pokemon personas.

Even so, I'd be willing to hang onto a PS3 into the next generation if they actually followed through with Persona 5 being set in a prison. They'd never do it of course, but it'd be a trip.

It's probably a high school setting, and I'm going to say the main characters are outcasts in their school, and they're slaves to their desires to be popular and to fit in. None of them are really friends at the start, but they're all roped into the games Midnight Channel equivalent for whatever reason and have to band together to find out why.
You heard it here first.

Given this is a PS3 exclusive, then I have to assume we're slaves to the past-gen of consoles. Or consoles in general, really.

Setitinajuveniledetentioncenter

PLEASE

You know, after thinking about it some more, I would actually like to see it set in an all-female high school: taking the "emancipation" from the teaser literally. It'll probably never happen, but still.

@killerfridge said:

@dancinginfernal said:

The obvious implication is that we are slaves to... Chairs?

We're slaves to high school, man

This might be the case, actually. The chairs look like chairs in a school and their placement are similar to a classroom's. Cue Another Brick In The Wall.

If I had to guess I'd say it will be cards again, since that's the motif used for every Persona besides Persona 3. But who knows.

The chairs and their arrangement sure looks like high school. And with the fairly "popular" criticization of the actual function of Japanese high school and their youth development this seems directly related to that. The recent Persona games always have an undertone of adults can't do anything / bind to their ways / gave up on their freedom, etc. theme especially in Persona 3.

Persona 5 seems like they are putting that right into the spotlight, although that could be a thin line to walk in without sounding too whiny, idealistic, and full of angst. However recently Gone Home seems to be able to pull off a similar stunt, but I wonder how it would be like if you have to actively engage and take the roles of these characters rather than just reading about their stories.

As for gameplay the 5 by 5 chair configuration could be just a nod to the 5 in Persona 5, but it might also be signifying going back to a 5 members party system which I think I saw in PersonaQ as well. I wonder if they are going to go back to the older Persona system of member's arcana affinity, multi member fusion spells, and demon negotiation also. I miss multi member fusion spells and party member able to equip different persona, but hate demon negotiation.

You are a slave.*