Persona 5 Royal: How to Spend Your Time Effectively

Most activities in Persona 5 Royal take up your limited free time. This means if you wish to enjoy Persona 5 Royal to its fullest, you need to prioritise your time effectively. Time management is essential, as Persona 5 Royal offers mechanics and even story that can be missed by new players. Although spending all your time playing video games and hanging out with Ryuji may be appealing, learning to use your time effectively can be one of the more challenging aspects for new players. This guide will show you ways you can spend your new school life and help you avoid missing anything important in Persona 5 Royal. From balancing stealing hearts to making friends, understanding the importance of your choices will help you enjoy your first playthrough of Persona 5 Royal even more.

For more Persona 5 Royal news:

Atlus Has “No Plan” To Release Persona 5 Royal On Nintendo Switch

Persona 5 Royal Coming to the West in Spring 2020

Exploring the Metaverse

At its base, the only requirement to beat Persona 5 Royal is to complete the game’s dungeon content. There are two types of dungeon: Mementos and Palaces, with each having their advantages of taking time out of your day to explore. However, due to taking up a full day, you should carefully consider when you want to explore the Metaverse.

Palaces

Throughout Persona 5 Royal, you will have deadlines to complete specific dungeon content in the form of Palaces. Although it can be easy to dedicate time elsewhere, you should aim to finish each new dungeon as soon as possible. Your motivation for doing so is to be able to continue the game. Each Palace has a different minimum amount of days required for completion leading to an easy game over if you leave it too long. Beyond this, many confidants refuse to spend time with Joker during this period.

As a result, you should strive to complete each new Palace as soon as possible. Whilst completing them as close to the minimum amount of days. Consequently, Palace completion should be as efficient as you can. Initially, what this results in is an emphasis on managing SP. The battle system in Persona 5 Royal relies on abusing enemy weaknesses to end fights quickly and ruthlessly. Most moves used to do this slowly drain your SP, acting as a pseudo limit on how long you can spend in a Palace. Despite this, there are ways of preparing and managing your SP inside and outside of a Palace to lengthen your trips to the Metaverse.

Joker and Ryuji encountering the first Palace

Managing SP

1. SP restoratives – Although in small supply, you can find these throughout Tokyo in vending machines, and the ability to make coffee and curry can help even further if you have free time.
2. Accessories – Avoid overlooking any accessories you get as many can end up changing how you approach combat through new skills, but unlocking SP adhesives trivialises SP management almost entirely.
3. Skills – Throughout the game, as you level up, you should recruit and fuse new demons to face each new challenge. However, there are specific skills that can make your time traversing Palaces less frustrating, look out for Invigorate skills, which allow you to restore SP each turn you take in battle.
4. Baton Pass – In addition to powering up your moves and maximising each of your turns in Persona 5 Royal, this ability can level up after the second Palace to be able to restore a small amount of your SP and HP.
5. Will Seeds – Located throughout each Palace are three Will Seeds. These hidden items restore SP, helping you push each run to its limit. Whether or not you need SP, these items also provide some of the best accessories in the entire game, making the extra effort worthwhile.
6. Physical moves – Unlike SP items, HP restoratives are common. This means if you’re out of SP and keep up on upgrading gear, abusing physical moves can help you scrape by. Whether you use basic attacks, shooting or skills that consume HP, they are worthwhile strategies in a pinch.

Mementos

Unlike Palaces, you can choose to tackle Mementos at their discretion. Mementos provides randomly generated floors filled with loot and shadows which make the grind easier to manage. All side quests are contained within the depths of Mementos meaning that many confidants require you venture down into the collective unconscious.

Overview of Mementos

The most effective time to go to Mementos is when you have several requests lined up at once. By doing this, you will reduce the number of days spent in Mementos. Upon this, by going through an entire section in one visit it becomes more manageable. In my playthrough, I visited Mementos once between each Palace as a new block would be unlocked. In conjunction with completing any recent requests, it created an additional source of revenue before the next Palace.

If something doesn’t cost you time, it likely costs money instead. For this reason, prioritise upgrading the amount of money gained in Mementos, as much as experience may appeal, completing palaces and traversing Mementos provides enough to overcome any challenge Persona 5 Royal throws at you.

Maxing Out Confidants

Each confidant offers a character focused story for you to experience. Due to the limited amount of time you have in Persona 5 Royal, this makes up the main reason for you to spend your time wisely. Confidants allow you to access the story to its fullest, going so far as to lock the third semester behind completing three of the game’s confidants. If that doesn’t convince you to spend your time carefully, each confidant provides unique bonuses, which can involve combat, traversal or even spending your time more efficiently.

Confidants are approachable in any order. However, if you wish to enjoy what each of them offers, you should prioritise confidants that allow you to be more efficient with your time. Keep in mind that party members do provide bonuses in battle. Upon this, to access the third semester, you need to complete the Justice, Faith and Counsellor confidants. With that in mind, here are a few confidants that will help you manage your time more effectively.

Unlocking your first confidant

Recommended Confidants

1. Death – Contrary to its name, getting to rank 5 in this confidant unlocks items that help you stay alive. SP adhesives are an essential accessory to maximise your time in Palaces restoring up to 7 SP every turn.
2. Temperance – Fancy paying someone to make you Molotov cocktails and curry, meaning you don’t have to? The Temperance confidant has you covered. This confidant unlocks new potential time slots to read, and craft tools. Even better rank 10 allows you to use a time slot after visiting the Metaverse. As a result completing this confidant increases the amount of time you have access to in Persona 5 Royal as well as allowing you to perform many activities without using a time slot.
3. Fortune – The Fortune confidant unlocks abilities that you miss out on very little of the content that Persona 5 Royal offers. At the beginning of the confidant, you will gain a temporary buff you can enable to increase social stats gained. More importantly is the ability to deepen your relationship with any of your confidants without spending a time slot. If you use this ability regularly, then you will have relative ease in completing all the confidants due to being able to guarantee a ranking up at every time slot used. As a result, reaching rank 5 in the Fortune confidant is borderline essential to reduce repeat playthroughs.

Yusuke hanging out in Shibuya Station

Don’t forget that there are a couple of things to check before spending time with a confidant. By checking the map, you can see all the available confidants to rank up that day. However, don’t forget that by having a Persona of that confidant’s arcana in your party, you will be able to become even closer with that confidant. If you keep this advice in mind, you’ll be completing confidants throughout your adventure.

Increasing Your Social Stats

Slowing down progression on your confidants is your social stats. At the beginning of the game, you will lack charm, kindness, guts, knowledge and proficiency, each with five ranks and their confidants that they will prevent you from continuing. Although these will grow as you continue the game, often when you are unable to develop any confidants, it is worth spending time increasing your social stats, so here are some recommended methods to make the most out of your time.

Reading on the way to school

1. Don’t be afraid to cheat in tests. Most of the knowledge you gain in Persona 5 Royal is unsurprisingly gained by going to school. In class, you will be given questions, and by getting the right answer you’ll receive a frequent supply of knowledge that doesn’t cost any time slots. Making cheating even more significant is that your charm will increase depending on how well you do in your exams, as well.
2. Smoothie Sunday. Although a small increase, every Sunday you will be able to buy some juice that makes you a better person. Find the juice in Shibuya Underground Walkway and enjoy your free social stat, besides the fact that it costs 5,000 Yen. 
3. Always carry a book. Although reading doesn’t become useful until you unlock the ability to read twice as fast. Persona 5 Royal often provides free time slots that you can use to read allowing for an increase in social stats of your choosing.
4. Don’t forget your plant. Every 16 days if you’ve bought fertiliser, you will be able to maintain the plant in your room. Doing this awards you kindness, which is dependent on your quality of fertiliser; once again, this does not use a time slot, so make sure to buy what your wallet allows.
5. Get to know Tokyo. Almost all activities in Persona 5 Royal increase your social stats. Deepening many of your confidants increase specific stats. However, if you take the time to explore Tokyo, you can see all the different events on offer. From visiting a maid cafe, fixing a laptop, even an addicting fishing minigame. You should aim to attempt anything Persona 5 Royal offers you at least once.

Strengthening Your Party

Once your confidants are out of the way, Persona 5 Royal offers ways to make your team even more powerful. Getting the edge in battle should be considered throughout your playthrough. Though keep in mind that it is often better to take advantage of these options when confidants are more reluctant to rank up.

Joker playing darts with Ryuji

Improving yourself

Surprise, but going to the gym makes you stronger. Although working out at home doesn’t raise your maximum SP as well, you can couple a workout with protein to increase your new maximum HP and SP even further. If you only care about raising SP, the temple in Kichijoji also provides an excellent alternative.

Improving your party members

New to Royal is Kichijoji, an area that hosts a variety of ways to make your party powerful. These provide bonuses to your party beyond stat changes unlike the gym. As a result visiting these areas are some of the best ways to spend your time in Persona 5 Royal.

1. Billiards levels up your technical rank which can allow it be a guaranteed down, as well as doing additional damage. To inflict a technical attack, players should use a specific type of move against an enemy inflicted with a status ailment. Taking advantage of this mechanic can provide a useful alternative to abusing enemy weaknesses.
2. Darts allows you to increase your baton pass rank with your party members if you complete a minigame. By increasing your baton pass rank, party members will be able to regain HP, SP, in addition to increased damage. The final perk unlocked allows you to use skills with no cost in battle if you succeed in chaining together several baton passes in a row.
3. The Jazz Club provides a bonus to a party member you invite, which changes depending on the day of the week. From exclusive skills to increasing maximum HP and SP. Make sure to visit the Jazz Club often to see what it offers, as well as any upcoming special events.

Take your time

Persona 5 Royal takes over a hundred hours to complete. It’s safe to say then that you will have a long time to get used to the game’s systems. Meaning whilst you should keep this advice in mind, you should enjoy the game fully. If you take your time to explore and become comfortable, you can enjoy one of the most relaxing gaming experiences on offer.

Persona 5 Royal is a PS4 exclusive and is available to buy physically and digitally.