This is what I've observed, what else can we dig up? I've seen some of us post what they've gathered elsewhere, but I thought it'd be cool to have one place apart from the omg that was fucking awesome thread.

Story

• Oh so much, but my favourite part is the bar-like location. Specifically, if you look on the coffee table, they have the blueprints to some kind of complex. Looks like we have a new Junes, and instead of planning trips into the TV, we'll be planning break-ins. >_>
• Heaps more! See the comments in this thread (eg. post #17 by @retrovirus)

Characters:

• There appears to be a mysterious 5th character shown at ~40seconds (looks like he/it has a cat or fox mask and tail)
• Ryuuji (The Yosuke/Junpei character ), does indeed have "ZOMG!" on his t-shirt. I reeeeally hope he isn't a total asshole.
• It looks like your human party members are the only blondes in the whole class - though by their last names, they don't appear to be related. Could be a trope, or they could be from out of town.
• I think the Morgana, the cat always looks like that... in spite of having a realistic cat preceed her in the trailer. eg. in the "bar", it still looks like a mascot.
  UPDATE: Nope, at some times it seems Morgana is a normal cat (see 1min 10 or so into the trailer) - speculation leads to her being a normal cat during the day and mascot during the night.
• The healing item dealer's name is Tae Takemi - she seems to be some sort of scientist, doctor or vet (her room has a hospital bed and a samurai costume and a massive hifi system? Oh, and she has test tubes on her desk? X-rays of a human and a fish?)
  UPDATE: It's the Takemi Medical Clinic, and her last name is Takemi, so I assume she/her family owns it and she is indeed a doctor. Still crazy as hell though.
• The "Military Shop" is owned by (and I assume this is part of his name) "Untouchable Iwai Munehisa"
• The velvet room is still a thing, along with Igor, and his companions this time appear to be two twins, one boy and the other a girl may actually be two girls, one with a bun and the other with a long plait (they look to be like 10? - so no more hitting on igor's companions I guess)
• More in this thread! (eg. posts 15 and 21 by @sunbrozak and @donutfever)

Gameplay / UI Stuff:

• Err... there isn't a Social Link section in the main UI, instead we have a "cooperation" menu item. Could be the same thing under a different name given the anarchist vibe of the game, but who knows? No S-Links?
• Dialogue doesn't seem to appear on screen during normal conversation (perhaps this is an option or we'll be moving to subtitles?) Instead of the old style we have manga-esque tearaways on screen showing character expressions alongside the more detailed models.
• Looks like you quip a Weapon AND a Gun (alongside a Protector, Accessory and - in a return from P4G - Clothes). I wonder what the differences between the two weapons are and what they're respectively used for?
• There only seemed to be two types of real-world enemy in the dungeon shown in the trailer. Black knights and gold knights (fewer, may be tougher enemies?). I assume they're just representations of shadows - ie, you interact with them and then fight shadows? They also seemed to be either holding a position or patrolling.
• Oh, and by "shadows" I apparently mean Demons/ Personas. Like in other SMT games, earlier Persona games and unlike Persona 3/4 (thanks again @sunbrozak) it looks like you're fighting things like Sandman and Pyro Jack in this game rather than random-ball-with-massive-tongue-thing. Or clearly-hulk-hogan-guy. I dunnno, I kinda miss the crazy.
• The battle system seems relatively unchanged - battles still take place in a different screen, not the overworld, all-in attacks are still in (and hence presumably some form of weakness exploitation system), you still have Hp and SP and you cycle through characters (so still direct input rather than AI characters of the past). Who knows what they're not showing us though.
• Weather remains a part of the mechanics (now on the top left, it moves from cloudy to sunny during the day on show, Monday 04/11)
• And of course we all noticed the stealth mechanic, no idea what kind of factor it'll play

All-out attacks seem to be back as well

Weapon wise likely a return to Persona 1. In P1 you could also use a weapon and a gun. They had different attack "types" so sometimes you would prefer using a gun over a melee weapon because a enemy might be resistant to a melee attack but not a bullet. Also bullets could have special ammo sometimes etc. That and guns can hit "back row" enemies, but who knows if that will be in game. Also Person 3 was the first persona where you didn't fight demons that could become persona's straight up. Persona had that in common with the "mainline" Shin Megami Tensei games until 3.

I think we still have S-links but are changed to cooperation... Someone said something about the rumor system might be back, but we'd have to wait and see.

Perhaps the blond is meaning to be misfits? A Little click of formed friends that are begging to break the chains?

I really hope S Links are back in some way or another, they were the best parts of 3 and 4.

EDIT: Also remember the tag line "You are slave" so they are forced to be burglars to free someone, save the city, something like that.

I think the cat always looks like that... in spite of having a realistic cat preceed him/her in the trailer. eg. in the "bar", it still looks like a mascot.

Nah man. The cat's just in disguise. Who would expect the thing in a cat suit to be an actual cat? It's brilliant!

Maybe the Cat can only talk when it's in its Persona form or whatever. So it looks like that when they have an Larceny Team meeting, but is otherwise a regular cat.

Did I see the protagonist from Catherine in there in Jail?

That was a fantastic trailer, very excited now!

@slag: Yes he was there, whatever that means

You just described every turn based RPG. The battle system could be wildly different and still look the same (like it is in Persona Q) and you'd still just have a cycle of characters with HP and SP.

I'm pretty sure that was just the MC in the velvet room or something. He and Vincent do look similar though.

@slag: that was just the MC. He happens to look like Vincent.

I'm surprised people keep making this mistake

@mosespippy: haha, true - I was getting tired and didn't list stuff like the return of all-in attacks or that they still take place in their own screen rather than in the world.

That said, yeah, it could be waaay different, we didn't get to see the battle menu.

I think it's more you are slave to your schedule, to corporations and the main characters are fighting the man.

This is complete speculation, but the colours on the female party member's hoodie look reminiscent of the union jack colours. There's also a clover on the back. Maybe she's spent time in the UK? Or maybe I'm completely wrong and it's just meant to look stylish and sporty.

@sunbrozak: I doubt it's anything.

It might be gang colours though.

She is both a member of the Crips and the Bloods, confirmed.

That's a lot of black and red.

Do people think that is the whole party or will there be a larger one where you can select others like the previous games? I actually wouldn't mind just a team of 4 for the entire game if the characters are great (which they probably are) but I don't know if I would've had the same love for Persona 4 if it was just MC, Yosuke, Chie, Teddie.

@nightriff: I guarantee they just aren't revealing the rest of the cast yet.

If you pause before the zoom on not-Vincent, You can see a bit of the Velvet Room + in-game models of the assistants. They have eyepatches.

I believe the original gameplay trailers for Persona 3 and Persona 4 both had glimpses of the entire main cast, but it's hard to say if that is a pattern they follow. If it's true that social linking is being scrapped and/or reworked, I could get why there would be a smaller cast. Though personally I enjoyed the ensembles that the previous games featured and would miss that in P5.

I keep hearing that this is supposedly the MC turning into a persona but it looks more like a shadow going berserk to me. The colour of the eyes looks like a shadow's at least.

@flstyle: Human shadows were only a P4 thing.

It might be his awakening. If I remember correctly, P3MC kinda looked a little battle hungry after he first summoned Orpheus, maybe this is something similar but more dramatic.

@flstyle said:

I keep hearing that this is supposedly the MC turning into a persona but it looks more like a shadow going berserk to me. The colour of the eyes looks like a shadow's at least.

Again, pure speculation, but with the amount that cats and cat burglars play into the trailer, perhaps there's also the concept of copycats? The word play might not work in Japanese, but I wouldn't be surprised if framing is a component of the story, given the criminal themes.

Sure, but in P3 it still popped out of his back, he didn't turn into his Persona when he awoke.

@corevi: Well, it is a whole new game. I don't think they're going to go full-on DDS here either, but the summoning process could have changed.

If it went down to a smaller cast I wouldn't be bummed. I assume there's a few more characters to come, they're not going to spoil everything. Also, what is everyone going to name their protagonist now??? Charlie's off somewhere else, and I haven't come up with a good name yet.

@corevi: Persona 2 had a pretty similar concept actually. They weren't exactly "shadows" as P3/P4 showed them, but the evil other self isn't unique to P4.

@zeik: That's true. I just really hope you play as a Henshin Hero.

@retrovirus: I think I'll name mine Tetsuo Youth after the new Lupe Fiasco album. It's believable, but just stupid enough.

Also, if you pause the trailer around 1:33, you can make out different names of (presumably protagonist's?) Personas that are all latin words for some of the Seven Deadly Sins postulated in Christianity.

• Invidia - Envy
• Ira - Wrath
• Luxuria - Lust
• Superbia - Pride
• Gula - Gluttony
• Irritum - Vanity (not one of the seven but still a venial sin I believe).

Since Persona 3 was influenced by Greek/Roman mythology and P4 by Japanese, I'm wondering if P5 will be inflienced by early Christianity after Rome that flourished in Spain. From what people have translated of an new post on the official Persona blog, the creative director has said that he wanted this game to feel like a piece of "picaresque" fiction, which includes things like Phantom of the Opera and tales of lower-class citizens striking against oppression using their wits, which this and previous trailers have hinted at. Official Persona blog with Hashino's statements.

Surprised this hasn't shown up yet:

I like the design of the (probable) Persona of the MC. Seems to fit the transformation in the last part of the trailer.

Is it possible that the main cast uses their "shadow" selves to invoke their personas? The masks are just a tool from Igor that allow them to harness the chaos within themselves to fight against the Man, which I assume is a group represented by the Seven Deadly Sins? Also that Bird shadow thing... Is that a crow? An Omen?...

The IGN Rewind guys pointed out that you can see what's likely a fifth party member in the intro, and evidence that the game takes place in Tokyo.

Oh snap! I didn't know they did a rewind theatre of it. Checking it out now, thanks for the heads up.

Here it is on youtube;

@gaff said:

Surprised this hasn't shown up yet:

I like the design of the (probable) Persona of the MC. Seems to fit the transformation in the last part of the trailer.

Interesting speculation;

Also, this appears to be that mysterious 5th party member / character @donutfever mentions. (shows up about 40 seconds into the trailer)

@selfconfessedcynic:

The opening tag line of the trailer reads:

待ち受けるのは…栄光か？

What awaits is...glory?

それとも…破滅？

Or...ruin ?

This same tag line appears on the upper left-hand corner of the official poster as well. This is pure speculation, but maybe some good/evil paragon system is in play (?). Could simply be a just a tag line, of course.

Also, the first two purchase choices in the weapons shop menu read:

近接武器

Close-range weapons

遠隔武器

Long-range weapons

I haven't played P3 so I don't know if the same Japanese was used in that game but this may mean that the long-range weapons may not necessarily all be guns.

@thestanduser: The long range / short range is a staple of traditional SMT games, who knows if they have weapons other than guns, but they usual are.

@thestanduser: Cool info!

And they're not all guns, at a minimum we know that Morgana the cat uses a slingshot for her long range and a cutlass for her short range in the trailer.

But that really makes me think that there may be some kind of range thing to the combat - could we be seeing rows come back? I usually don't like row systems, but w/e, I have complete trust in the persona team.

Now I'm wondering if these two weapons that we'll be using means we'll have to set our own stat points. Like a str vs dex sort of thing.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.... I get it.

They are cat burglars!

Well played.

Do we have an idea of what Personas the characters will be using, as for the design for the MC's, is he a redesign of a former Persona or Demon, anyone who is familiar with the smt wikia? A specific religious background, like P3's Greek, and P4's Shinto?

There IS a prevailing theory on that point and it links back to the info @retrovirusposted earlier. If you watch the trailer at around 1:28ish you see Morgana's cat form followed by her mascot / persona form followed by the words [LUXURIA PERSONA] superimposed on top of the image. It then zooms out with the following words similarly shown;

• Luxuria - Lust (latin followed by the English translation)
• Invidia - Envy
• Ira - Wrath
• Superbia - Pride
• Gula - Gluttony
• Irritum - Vanity

Hence the prevailing theory is that the personas people will have will be based upon Christian mythology, following on from the theme of the seven deadly sins. Note that though currently Greed is the 7th sin, historically Vainglory was a sin, or Vanity as seen above.

The P5 MC's persona doesn't seem to be a redesign, but I've only played about half of the SMT games out there - I also firmly believe he stands for Wrath as if you watch some of the gameplay (pointed out in IGN's rewind theatre above), whenever the MC moves when running around in a dungeon, blood washes around his feet on the ground.

ED: Oh, and by "stands for Wrath", I assume the MC's persona will be some historical / folklore figure whom is known for wrath - eg. Jack the Ripper (some guys on gaf came up with that one and I love the idea).

@selfconfessedcynic said:

Or maybe Brad Pitt's character from Se7en?

@selfconfessedcynic: @subliminalkitteh: Most SMT games don't have any concept of "rows", your guns are usually just there to provide access to a different damage type, often with ammo that provides special effects.

But who knows.

Fuck I loved Se7en :D

Makes me wonder who's what sin - I like pegging wrath on the MC, but what does that make Ryuuji (with his grey skull mask and pipe for a weapon)? Or Anzu with her red catwoman outfit?

Also, how much will "Clothes" from the equipment menu change about that? If the other options are just joke options, I'll never change from these badass outfits.

@selfconfessedcynic said:

It'd be interesting if each sin was something the character had to deal with and get over, like the cast's Shadows in P4. They could also tie typical Persona ending stuff about gods hurting humanity in attempting to help them to how unfair the deadly sins are. Lust and pride aren't the worst thing on the planet.

@donutfever said:

I like that idea - we wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Lust. The world would be stagnant and evil would go unpunished without Wrath. Everyone needs some semblance of Vanity, or we'd all be mired in self hatred. Pride in what we do with ourselves pushes us to greater heights.

... kinda stuck on gluttony and envy, and I gtg, but you know what we're getting at.

Hm.

Other speculation points to the 7 sins being the "bosses" of this game, with you defeating avatars of each. Who knows?