7 Hints About Persona 5 Dropped in Persona 4 Arena

WARNING! THIS POST WILL HAVE SPOILERS ABOUT PERSONA 3, PERSONA 4 AND PERSONA 4 ARENA. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.

So, I finally finished all characters story in Persona 4 Arena. And yes, it is a great fighting game with one of the most interesting stories in gaming. But more importantly, Persona 4 Arena finishes in one of the biggest cliffhangers ever. With Atlus' works in Persona 5 already confirmed, it means that this cliffhanger probably aims towards the next true sequel to the Persona series. Yes, it could just mean that we will have a Persona 4 Arena 2, which, besides being one of the most stupid game names, it is a possibility due to the great numbers P4A have being able to do.

But since P4A is a cooperative job, and both Atlus working in Persona 5 and Arc System Works doing its next BlazBlue game, it may be a long time before we got a sequel in the fighting games. So, I am more inclined thinking that all hints dropped in P4A about a sequel in its story points towards the Persona 5 game, which I am eager waiting to play. And here I show all the hints that may say what we should expect from this future Persona title.

7. It may be set in college, not in high school.

A lot of gamers I know hopes that Persona 5 have a college setting. And this may be just the case! In Akihiko's story mode, he talks about going back to college. Fuuka is in college, it seems. But there is one bigger reason why this may happen. Everyone from the cast of Persona 3 and 4 will be at college age by the time P5 hits the shelves.

See, most of  the protagonists in both games are already in college age by now. The P3 cast all where in high school in 2009. Even if they were 1st year students, they would be, at best (or worst) in their last year in high school by now. And if P5 is set in the same year, or the next year of its launch, it means that it will be set in 2014 at earliest. And everyone from both casts will be in college age, maybe some will be even graduating by that time.

Setting the game in high school would simple make any characters from P3 and P4 unable to be more than cameos in P5. And it is unlikely this will be the case, because...

6. The characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4 said they will be meddling in the Persona 5 story.

The Shadow Operatives, a spec ops group fighting shadows formed by many members of the P3 cast, and the Investigation Team formed by the P4 cast, said they would investigate the responsible for the events in P4A, meaning they will be an important part of the events that will happen in P5. And it will be hard to interact with the P5 cast if they are high school students, when most of the old characters will be in college age.

From P3, only Aigis and Ken Amada would be able to go to high school. Ken, because he was in middle school in P3, but since nobody I know likes him, he would be an unlikely choice. Aigis is an android, meaning she don't age, so she can pass as a high school student. From P4, Naoto, Rise and Kanji could pass up as high school students. Maybe Teddy too. But they will all be in college age if P5 is set in 2014. Labrys, the original character from P4A is likely to make a return, specially since she is already a fan favorite.

So, it is likely that at least one of the characters from both P3 and P4 will make a return to P5 in some form, and since is more likely they will have an active role, I doubt they will make just cameos, but in fact be playable characters in P5. So, making the college setting more likely. And remember that Atlus already make a game with an older set of characters, Catherine, and it was a success for them. So, I am betting in their return. In college!

Please, Atlus, make her and her sweet accent be playable in Persona 5. Thank you.

5. Port Island will be the game's city again.

The reason why I believe Port Island, the city from Persona 3 will make a return is because the Investigation Team from P4 said they were going there to investigate the Labrys' incident. Not only that, it is hinted that the responsible for the incident may have connections with the Kirijo Group, the corporation Mitsuru's family ran over in P3. So, no better place than investigate the mystery than in there.

Not only that, a big city like Port Island probably will have a big college somewhere, and it will be a better, more exciting place than the small Inaba. Of course, I am also betting we will be able to travel to locations from previous Persona games because the Malign Entity from P4A is aiming in stealing Personas from its users, making more likely that people from Persona 1 and 2 could make at least a cameo and that their cities may be visited during the investigation.

So, the familiar ground (probably with brand new locales to visit instead of updated old ones), is more likely to make a second appearance this time.

4. Elizabeth and her quest will be in Persona 5.

In the end of Persona 3, the main character uses his own soul to keep humanity desires for death to reach Nyx, a powerful entity who could kill all humanity. Elizabeth, Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room is in a quest to attempt to free the main character' soul. While I doubt that this will be in the main quest, I can easily see it as a side quest, like The Answer in Persona 3 or the Snow Queen quest in the original Persona. 

It would be an interesting quest, who could add a new layer of difficulty to the game (the side quests in Persona tends to be more difficulty than the main quest) and to add a new layer on the usually complex stories told in the series.

Also, it would be a nice incentive to play if you could add either Elizabeth or the main character from Persona 3 to your party by finishing this quest. Just saying.

3. It will deal with more mature and personal themes.

Catherine, the first HD game from Atlus and made by the Persona team, is a game with a very personal story and who dealt with themes who usually arouse between adults, like sex, marriage, job, responsibility. I believe Atlus was testing the waters, to see if they could pull out a game like that and sell enough copies. Since they did, there is a likely chance that P5 will be a more mature game than their prequels.

P4A, specially in Labrys own story, already dealt with a very personal and deep story, so I believe the tone for the next game will be darker and mature somehow. Not that they will forget about the slice of life side that made P3 and P4 a hit, but they will probably throw a less 'funny' story this time around. And I am all for that. The college setting would help a lot in this, since then we would have the cast facing the problems of adults and not anymore the problems of teenagers.

2. The Villain will be a returning one.

OK, likely it will not be Danny de Vitto/Igor. But I have a feeling the villain in P4A is someone (something?) who have encountered persona users before, meaning that it have appeared in some of the old titles before, even if in smaller roles.

The voice who talked with Labrys in her story and showed her the school from P4 sounded a lot like the voice of Philemon, a character from the first Persona. It don't mean that he will be the villain, mind you, but that he may be involved somehow. And of course, using an old villain would be a very interesting way to connect all Persona games in the same universe it seems they are set in.

Why not?

1. It will have a new main character.

Not her, sadly.

I know, it doesn't say in P4A that it will have a new character. But it is highly unlikely that any old character would be the lead role. Sure, it will have at least one or two old characters as playable, in my opinion, but P5 will have a lot of new faces, starting with the main character.

The reason for that is that the Malign Entity in P4A already targeted the old casts, meaning he will probably not target them again, but try his/her luck with new persona users, unaware of his/her existence. It may even help them to awake their personas, just so he can try to steal them afterwards. It make more sense to have at least many new characters as old ones.

Also, I am hopeful that we will be able to choose the gender of the main character. It was a great new feature in Persona 3 Portable, so having this option from the get go in P5 would be great.

So, what do you think? What hints Persona 4 Arena gave you about the next game?